Final Destination: A Club to Die For
by JunKing
Summary: When a high school senior has a premonition that the club he is in will catch fire and kill everybody inside, he warns them and escapes. Few believe him until his vision comes true. They think they've avoided it, but Death still has plans for them. *DONE*
1. Departure

Chapter 1: Departure

Peter sat outside the cafeteria as the other kids laughed and enjoyed each others' company. He was waiting for his best friend Emma. It was almost sun down and as he waited for the buses to arrive, he started to feed pieces of his sandwich to some birds. He was eighteen and of Latino (Puerto Rican) descent. He wasn't exactly Spanish in that he didn't know how to fully speak the language, he was more American than anything else. His dark brown eyes either welcomed you or cursed you, depending on who you were.

Running a hand through his dark brown gel-spiked hair, he slumped further down the brick wall behind him. He always felt that life was the same repetitive shit everyday. That's why he decided to go on this field trip. The trip was to a teen night club called The Shadows and although it sounded cheesy, something about it just made Peter cringe.

He had never been to a club before but somehow, the thought of being surrounded by hordes of people made him feel a little too claustrophobic. Life for him was pretty much expendable, he could do without it. He lived with highly religious parents, so they were strict on him. Often times, they'd call him ungrateful due to his constant disregard for his own life.

"Hey Pete!" Emma said as she came up and sat down next to him. The two hugged each other and began to talk. Emma was eighteen and of African heritage. Unlike Peter, she was fluent in her native language. She had beautiful dark skin like chocolate and although she was tomboyish, many guys found her really attractive.

"I was starting to wonder if you were still coming or not." Peter uttered.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss a field trip like this for the world! And since I KNOW you can't wait to go with me,"

"A.K.A. "since I know you have no life..." he interjected. Emma frowned before replying. "I never said that."

"You didn't have to." Said her friend as he looked away from her.

Acting on her impulse, Emma shook her head and spoke up. "Okay, I'm gonna have to stop you right there." Peter remained silent after hearing her speak. He knew what she was going to say, as they had focused on this exact subject many times before.

"Believe it or not, people DO care about you."

Peter felt repulsed in the sense that he knew she was speaking the truth. It just wasn't true for all the people who he felt really mattered to him. "People like who? Like my parents? Hell, when I was in the hospital, they didn't even visit me."

Putting her hand on his shoulder, Emma replied, "And I'm sorry that they did that to you. But the first time, they did visit you."

"True, but I was only in there for a week and they were doing it to maintain their 'holier-than-thou' reputation."

"You didn't need to be there, you needed someone to talk to you." Emma said.

"Hey, that's why I have you right?"

Emma smiled at her friend's comment, "Well true, but one day, you might not have me to lean on." Peter looked up into the sky, "I'd never let anything happen to you."

"I know!" said Emma with a cute smile while posing. Some students came over by the two. Emma clenched her fist. "Uck, it's Adam. I swear if he tells me that I look like Beyonce ONE more fuckin' time... And it's only because of this fuckin' weave I got in my hair."

Sure enough, Adam walked up to her, "Yo Beyonce! 'You got me lookin' so crazy right now!' Ha ha ha!" Emma rolled her eyes, refusing to give him the time of day. "Adam go away."

Adam frowned mockingly. "Ouch! Why don't you just 'make me lose my breath'? Ha ha!" Peter didn't like Adam any more than Emma did. He was annoying, stupid, and overall, he lived to antagonize others. "If you don't shut the fuck up and leave, I'M gonna make you lose your breath." Peter said as his face reddened with anger.

Adam looked to his friends, "Oh that's right. What are you gonna do? Try to tie a rope around my neck? Isn't that your job?" Peter became embarrassed and ashamed, looking away speechless.

"Shut UP Adam!" Emma yelled as she jumped to her feet in a nanosecond. Suddenly another student walked into the area. "Adam, why don't you just leave him alone? Besides, it's about time for your daily Christie-stalking, isn't it?"

"OOOOOOOHHHHH!!!" Adam's friends yelled and laughed in shock that someone had called him out like that.

Obviously, Adam was embarrassed as hell. "Whatever Ethan. At least I know what pussy is." he said. Ethan looked him dead in the eye and replied, "I'm looking at one right now." Adam's friends burst into laughter before telling him to leave before he 'got dissed even harder'. They left, probably to find somebody else to pick on.

After they were gone, Ethan shook his head and turned back to his friends. "You alright Pete?" he asked in concern. Peter looked up, giving a thankful smile. "Yeah, thanks Ethan."

"'Sup Big E?" Emma said.

"Hey Beyonce." Ethan replied. Emma glared at him. Ethan suppressed his smile for but a few seconds before giving in. "Just kidding! Geez, can't you take a joke? Ha ha ha."

Ethan was the friendliest guy that Peter knew. He had known Ethan for a few years, even before his parents were killed in a car accident back in junior high. He viewed him as his best guy-friend without a doubt. He was tall, coming in at about six feet. He had short blonde hair and welcoming blue eyes, his slightly tan skin helping to bring out their color. He was the kind of guy that half the girls in school only dreamed of being with.

"So...this club is fun?" Peter asked as he could feel his uneasiness kick back in.

"Hellz yeah!" exclaimed Emma as she started remembering her fun times there. Ethan, who had also been there a few times, agreed, replying with a simple yet assuring, "You bet!"

The dark haired Latino laughed to himself. "I still find it funny that our psychology class is going to a teen night club."

"Well, like Mr. Finn said, "The key to understanding teenage behavior is to observe it in a natural setting." said Emma as she imitated the voice of their instructor.

Ethan laughed before replying, "Yeah, whatever that means. So where's Erica and Kim?"

Peter threw the last piece of his sandwich to the nearby birds before answering his friend's question. "Oh yeah I forgot to tell you guys. Erica called me earlier and told me that she has to work an extra shift tonight, so she can't go."

"And Kim is still in Florida visiting her grandmother." said Emma as she sat back down next to her best friend.

Ethan looked disappointed. "Damn that sucks. Well, I guess we'll just have to live it up for them!" The trio of friends laughed and continued to talk. Two minutes later, the buses arrived. Emma was the first to notice them.

"There goes our ride. You guys ready?" she said as she stood back on her feet.

"Let's do this!" said Ethan in a voice of nothing but the purest excitement. Peter stood up with his friend's help before sarcastically saying, "Well, if I'm gonna go, I might as well have the time of my life."

Emma punched his arm playfully. "Definitely! Man, it's about time you started living."

Ethan agreed. "Yeah buddy, what she said. By the way, how did you get your parents to let you go?"

"They think I'm hanging out with 'M at the mall."

Emma smiled before thinking of a joke, "Well technically, you're not lying completely. You are hanging out with me, just not at the mall."

They laughed and turned towards the buses. Meanwhile, another group of students approached the same bus that Emma, Peter, and Ethan were getting on. One was a beautiful girl named Lois. She was actually the object of Peter's 'secret' affection. She was Korean with jet black hair, some blood red streaks mixed in at the bottom. She was your typical goth/punk chick, with a vocabulary that could be as vulgar as the worst of sailors. She was talking with her friend Tobias, another goth kid at the school. He was more known as the senior class emo than anything else. He had pale skin and was of average height and he looked kinda like the lead singer from Green Day. Despite being different from each other, Lois and Tobias were pretty good at holding up a witty conversation, seeing as how they were both highly sarcastic. Lois was actually also one of Emma's best friends. Oddly enough, she couldn't stand Peter one bit. Just as she was about to get on the bus, Lois turned and saw Emma. She called to her and waved but upon seeing Peter, she turned her open palm into a middle finger. Peter shook his head and looked away.

"Do we have to get on the same bus as that bitch?" he said in frustration.

"Hey, that 'bitch' just happens to be my friend too." replied Emma. Ethan laughed at the situation. He leaned in close towards Peter's ear and said, "Not to mention, we know how you feel about her." Peter punched Ethan's chest with his mouth open in shock.

"Shut up man, you want the whole class to know?" he said in a voice that could've passed for either being pissed off, or really nervous. Emma laughed at her friend's innocence. "Everybody already _does_ know. That's probably why she hates you so much."

Peter clicked his tongue in disgust. "Whatever, she can be like that then. I don't give a damn."

They got on the bus and looked for someplace to sit together. The seats were empty towards the back of the bus. Everybody was sitting in the front so that they can be the first ones off the bus and therefore, the first ones in the club. They moved to the back and sat down. Ethan sat next to Drew while Peter and Emma sat together. The two of them started talking about Lois again, so Ethan turned around to speak to Drew. Drew never really spoke to many people, yet he was kind of popular. He had short brown hair and usually dressed in jeans and button down shirts. He was tanned and liked to go to the beach a lot. Once Ethan turned around, he started talking to him.

"Hey Drew, what's happening? You excited?"

"Ah well kind of. I guess it'd be fun. Cassandra convinced me to go."

Ethan looked around for the girl. "Cassandra the French foreign exchange student?"

"Yeah, she's cool. She's up in the front with Frederick. Those two got some chemistry." replied Drew.

"Yeah when Fred isn't talking about some new show he plans to be on." They both laughed at Ethan's comment.

"So Ethan, when the summer comes around, you gonna go back to the Swim Team?"

"Definitely. What about you?"

"Nah. I had enough of it. I think I'll just lay low for awhile." Drew replied while leaning against the window.

Ethan nodded. "We'll be missin' you bro."

Drew chuckled to himself. "You guys will live." They continued speaking as Emma stared at Peter blankly.

A few seconds went by before Peter felt prompted to break Emma's silence. "Okay c'mon. Was it THAT bad of a joke?"

"Yeeeeeaaaahhh. It most definitely was." Her eyes widened as she tried to emphasize her thoughts.

"Okay, I'll try to spice them up a bit next time." They sat still once they saw Mr. Finn get on the bus. After doing the routine attendance check, he started speaking.

"Alright you guys listen up. We're leaving now so I want to let you all know that you are STILL expected to be on your best behavior."

The bus filled with random 'yes sir!'s and laughter. "Oh yeah and don't even bother trying to get anything 'strong' from the bar. It's for teens only remember? No alcohol is served there."

"What? How am I gonna get down without any beer?" shouted a student towards the middle of the bus.

Mr. Finn huffed while shaking his head. "Well sorry to disappoint you son, but the closest thing you're getting to that is root beer." Everybody snickered. Ethan turned to Emma and Peter, yelling "OWNED!"

"SERVED!" replied Peter as the two of them exchanged glances. They smiled and started to talk as the buses pulled out of the parking lot. A few minutes later, Peter leaned his head against the window and started to watch the scenery pass him by. He could hear everybody talking and making jokes. Slowly, his eyes started to shut and the sounds of his classmates dulled out. Soon, he was dreaming. He saw himself sitting in a hospital bed, staring outside of a barred window. He looked down and saw that he had bandages wrapped around his wrists. He suddenly remembered why he was here. He had tried to kill himself for the second time. His neck was still aching a bit from the rope that he tried to hang himself with. To be honest, he couldn't even remember the whole incident, only parts of it. When he looked back up, he watched as the kids from the children's ward ran around the courtyard. It was funny, but he realized that even though they had problems, they still appeared happy and innocent. Even if it was only for that moment out there in the courtyard...they had genuine smiles on their faces.

Peter reached forward and touched the glass window, wishing that he could return to that happiness. As he watched them, he began to almost see blurs of his childhood, when he was just as happy as they were. He closed his eyes and let his mind take him back. He let his mind take him back to the time when his mother was proud of his life, when she would take him to the park and push him on the swing. Just then, he could hear his childish laughter echo through his mind.

"Carefree..." he whispered. His eyes began to water as he remembered his happiness, and how it was now long gone. A hang grabbed his shoulder and tugged him. Peter sat up abruptly, opening his eyes to see Emma and Ethan glaring at him. That's when he became conscious of the fact that he had fallen asleep, and he felt pretty embarrassed.

"Dude, your snoring was louder than the bus." said Ethan as he laughed to himself. Emma nodded and put her back against her seat again. "Yeah man, I've been trying to wake you up for the past three minutes." she said in a tone of disbelief.

"Wow, um...sorry guys."

Drew suddenly broke the silence. "Well anyways, we're here. Let's go!"

Everybody started to scatter off the bus. Drew ran off to find Cassandra while Emma told Ethan to go on ahead. She stayed behind to make sure Peter was fully awake. After a few seconds, the two got off the bus and took one of the numbered tickets that Mr. Finn was giving out to keep track of attendance. These tickets were also telling them the order in which they would be entering the club. It was more of a 'first come, first served' kind of thing. Peter and Emma got in line and started talking about what songs they hoped would be playing. As they talked, Peter looked up the line and saw Drew hanging with Cassandra and Frederick in the front. Emma made a comment saying how shocked she was that they sat together and somehow he was at the front of the line. Their friend Joe, who was the school's leading football star was a little after Drew and the gang. Behind him was Lois and Tobias with Ethan behind them talking to some of his other friends.

Emma started dancing to the bass that echoed outside the club. "We are gonna rock this piece. And you better be dancing, not holding up the wall."

Peter laughed before referring to his friend by her nickname, "I'll try 'M. I'll try."

"Shoot, cuz I don't play that shit. And you KNOW I don't. You know for damn sure that I'ma come over and force you into the middle of the dance floor!" she replied.

Peter let out a nervous laugh, "No don't do that, haha, I'll dance with you. As long as you can keep up, that is." he said in a taunting manner.

"Ha! We'll see about that Petey boy."

As they talked, they realized that it was their turn to go inside the club. Emma handed the attendant her ticket and stepped forward, waiting for her friend. Peter handed in his ticket and suddenly noticed an uneasy feeling coming over him. He got really cold for no reason. He looked up to see if any vent was above him, but there wasn't. He stood motionless for a few more seconds before he realized that everybody was yelling for him to go in. He snapped out of it and saw Emma holding the door open for him. He apologized to the people behind him and walked in with Emma. Once inside, the sound of blaring music overwhelmed his ears. Emma leaned over and spoke to him.

"You gotta get with the program dude, so what do you want to do?"

Not really wanting to dance just yet, Peter made a different suggestion. "Well, you wanna go find everyone else?"

"Yeah sure, but we are so dancing afterwards, so long as I am black."

Peter laughed at his friend's statement. "Wow 'M, you're crazy."

"Nah not crazy, just excited. Let's go!"

She started pulling him through the club. She held onto his hand and guided him around so they wouldn't get separated. Even though everybody looked like they were starting to have fun, Peter still had this odd feeling that something was a little off.


	2. Premonition

Chapter 2: Premonition

Music blared over the speakers as Emma continued to guide Peter by the hand across the crowded dance floor. For a second, Peter wondered if he was in a mosh pit seeing as how he kept having to dodge elbows and flying forearms.

Emma yelled over the music, "I think I see Ethan. C'mon, let's go hang with him."

Peter nodded, "Alright."

The two friends walked over to where Ethan was, but were stopped by a friend. His name was Joe. He was the dictionary-definition of 'The All-American Jock'. Being one of the school's best football players, he was very popular. He was over six feet tall, very muscular with blue eyes and spiky blonde hair.

"Hey guys, what's up? Y'all gonna get to dancing soon?" he said as he mimicked some dance moves.

"Yeah we will. I'm ready to dance any time, it's Pete over here who isn't." said Emma as she motioned over to her nervous friend. Joe turned to Peter and smiled, "Hey man you need to loosen up. I know you got some skillz."

Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Huh, yeah right. I'll give it a shot in a bit."

"Speaking of shots, I could sure use some of those right about now." Emma said as she started dancing in place again.

Joe looked at her like he knew something that she didn't. "They DO have shots... in the back section of the club."

"What? I thought Mr. Finn said this was a non-alcoholic club?" Peter said after hearing Joe's statement.

"Yeah well he probably just said that so nobody would be looking for it." he replied.

Emma rolled her eyes, looking in the direction of where the alcohol was supposedly being kept. "Wow that's stupid."

Joe laughed, "Yeah I know. The alcohol bar is over there in the back. Finn didn't know that this was a COOL club; you just gotta have a fake ID." Peter seemed to be in awe about the whole thing. "Really? Wow."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go get some!" exclaimed Emma as she moved to head to the back. Joe stopped her where she stood. Apparently, he knew something else that she didn't. "This is the part where you get pissed. Since the class is here tonight, the owners shut down the bar. No booze for anyone tonight. That is, unless you want to hop the counter and serve yourself. But all the chaperons are pretty much making sure that doesn't happen."

Emma's jaw dropped before her facial features tightened in anger. "Are you kidding me? This fucking sucks!" Peter didn't seem to mind much at all. "It's all right; I don't really drink a lot anyways."

"Lightweight." Emma said, causing her friend to laugh sarcastically at the comment. Joe interrupted, saying, "Well, I'm gonna dance. 'M, you wanna dance with me?"

She seemed to lighten up happily. "Sure! If Petey Boy over here doesn't mind, that is." Peter shrugged, he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he was secretly relieved. 'Go dance. Now I'm off the hook!' he thought.

"No go ahead, it's okay. I'm gonna go see what Ethan's up to." he said aloud, getting ready to walk off.

Emma exclaimed, "Awesome!"

She turned away, following Joe. Before she disappeared into the crowd, she turned around and said, "Don't think that this lets you off the hook Pete. You still owe me a dance."

Peter was silent for a second before he started laughing. "No problem." With that, he watched as she walked off to go dance. 'Damn what the hell. Is she a mind reader or something?' He turned to find Ethan, but he wasn't there. Looking around, he spotted his friend following Drew over to where Cassandra was dancing. Deciding to fade into the background, Peter found an empty spot on the wall and watched the others dance. He looked over to see Lois and Tobias dancing together. It made him feel jealous to see her with another guy.

'What am I talking about?' he thought to himself. He knew that Lois didn't like him and that she wasn't anywhere near being in his league, but still…it was always nice to dream.

Minutes went by and he found himself getting bored. He even regretted coming along. The one thing that he did like was the music. Since he listened to various genres, he pretty much enjoyed most of the music that was playing so far. The music started turning from hip hop and pop, to rock and metal. The remix of Dragula by Rob Zombie started playing. Peter tapped his foot to the beat. He saw Ethan and Cassandra coming over to him.

Straightening up, he smiled and said, "Hey guys, you having fun?"

Ethan gave a thumbs up, "Yeah, we're having a great time!"

Peter smiled before his glance traveled to Cassandra. She made eye contact with him and began to speak. "You on the other hand, don't look so happy."

"Nah it's nothing serious, just my first time in a club and I'm a little nervous." he replied. Cassandra giggled slightly, "That's all? Well come on, I'll dance with you." Beginning to sweat, Peter stuttered slightly, "Me? Uh, well I, uh-"

Cassandra grabbed his hand, "Don't be shy, let's go." Ethan gave him a thumbs up, "Yeah Pete! Show 'em all how it's done, buddy!" Peter felt like the butterflies in his stomach just morphed into birds, but he felt flattered. He wasn't exactly a ladies man, but when Cassandra pulled him onto the dance floor, he felt like he belonged. It was a feeling that shocked him, but at the same time, he wasn't about to shoot it down.

Once they reached an empty spot, the two started dancing. Cassandra was a French exchange student. She was beautiful with her long blonde hair and blue eyes, her peach colored skin complimenting them. She was well-known for her accent. Some people found it annoying, while others found it sexy. Peter agreed with the latter.

"You're a good dancer." he said.

"Why thank you. You're not so bad yourself." she replied with a small wink. Peter blushed slightly, "Thanks."

Join Me in Death by H.I.M. started playing as Cassandra started grinding against Peter. He felt his heart in his throat as he tried to keep up with her movements. Looking over, he saw Emma, Joe, and Ethan cheering him on. His cheeks became as red as his blood. It must have been very apparent because Cassandra giggled.

"You're cute when you're nervous." she said into his ear. Peter laughed, "Thanks, I think."

Out of nowhere, Peter had an overwhelming feeling of dizziness. He stumbled slightly, but Cassandra caught him. Out of concern, she asked him, "Hey are you okay?"

"Whoa. Yeah I think I'm okay, but I'm dizzy as hell. Maybe I should sit down for a bit." he answered.

"Yes you should. I'll bring you to one of the couches." she offered. He felt really embarrassed about the whole scenario. "No, I'll be okay. You should just go have fun."

Reluctantly, Cassandra listened to him. "Well…okay. I'll check on you in a bit to make sure you're not sick or anything."

"Thanks Cassandra, but I'll be fine. I'll catch up with you later."

"Alright, you take it easy." she told him before turning away.

"Thanks, I will."

He walked through the crowd to find somewhere to sit down. As he walked, the feeling of dizziness turned into slight fear. It was the same feeling that he felt when he first walked into the club. It was like a cold breeze was brushing across his face, but there was no apparent source. Spotting an empty couch nearby, he tried to calm down as he made his way over to it. Before he could reach the couch, he heard the song When Death Calls by Black Sabbath begin to play.

He barely reached the couch as he nearly fell to the ground. Grabbing hold of the arm rest, he sat down and took deep breaths. He wondered why he felt so uneasy all of a sudden. Then, he had a thought. 'This is the third song in a row that seems to be talking about death…'

Emma appeared in front of him, "Hey! What's the problem? Are you sick or something?" Peter looked up and spoke after a pause, "I don't know. I feel uncomfortable for some reason."

"Look, it's your first time in this kind of environment; you just need to give it some more time, okay?" It was clear that she was just trying to assure him.

"I don't know." he replied. Ethan, Lois, and Tobias came over to see what was going on. Peter saw Lois and sighed. 'Here we go.' he thought.

Ethan was the first to speak, "Pete, you okay man?"

"He's probably not used to seeing so many hot girls in one place." said Lois, taunting him. Tobias laughed, "Let alone dance with one of them." Lois and Tobias laughed while Emma and Ethan rolled their eyes.

"Lay off, will ya? He obviously doesn't feel good." declared Emma in a defensive manner. Lois showed no sympathy, "Aww poor Peter."

"Shut up already, damn." Peter was beyond aggravated with her.

"You shut up! Nobody wants to play babysitter on this trip!"

"Yeah well it's not your problem because right now, you're playing 'class bitch'."

Lois clenched her fist and moved forward like she was going to hit him. Ethan held her back while Tobias laughed at the situation. "C'mon guys, stop it. Let's just enjoy the night ok?" Ethan said, trying to keep the peace.

Tobias took a sip of his soda that he was holding. "Yeah I agree. Although it would've been funny to see her beat this kid's ass." Imitating a feminine voice, he continued to antagonize Peter by saying, "Cat fight!"

"Gee thanks Tobias, aren't YOU the peacemaker." Peter retorted. Tobias and Lois trailed off into the crowd afterwards, leaving Peter, Emma, and Ethan to talk.

"So what exactly is wrong with you? Stomach ache?" Ethan asked.

"No…I don't know how to describe it. I just feel edgy about this place for some reason." he replied.

Emma sat down to try and comfort her friend. "Listen Pete, nothing is going to happen to you."

Ethan jumped in and did the same. "Dude, what she said. You're just nervous and I would be too if I were my first time in a club."

Peter listened to them and felt like maybe he WAS overreacting. Maybe he WAS just nervous. As Emma and Ethan talked to him, the music faded out and a man's voice could be heard loudly. Everyone turned their attention to the stage on the far end of the club, towards the middle. He had a microphone in his hand and as Peter listened, he realized that the guy was introducing a band of some sort.

The four male band members had just finished setting up and the guy that introduced them got off the stage. Everybody cheered in excitement as the electric guitar player started playing some riffs. Emma's lips curved into a big smile."Live entertainment? Now THAT'S the SHIT!"

"Wow, I can't believe how awesome this place is!" said Ethan as he pumped his fist in the air. Peter couldn't help but feel like he was getting worse. Something was bothering him and he had no idea what it was.

"Damn! Do you hear that guitar? That is true skill." said Emma as she bobbed her head to the beat. Ethan gave her a high-five before turning around to Peter and asking him what he thought of the music. He remained silent, not sure of what he was feeling. Emma playfully shoved him, telling him that there was no way in hell he could still feel down with "talent like that".

Peter forced a smile and nodded. As the lead performer started to sing, he noticed that there was smoke coming from the sides of the stage. His heart sank as soon as he saw it. Standing up, he yelled, "Oh shit, what's that smoke all about?!"

Emma laughed. "Wow Pete. That's from the mist machines on the stage. They use it for effects. Calm down."

"Seriously man, chill out." said Ethan in agreement.

Peter felt less afraid, but still uneasy. He put a hand on his chest and took a deep breath. When the singer reached the chorus of the song, flames shot up from the back sides of the stage. Peter gasped quietly to himself when he saw the flames. Everybody cheered and pumped their fists in the air. Red laser lights started moving all over the club, creating the feeling of a concert-like performance.

"Damn!!! That's hot!!!" Emma yelled in excitement.

"No doubt!" Ethan replied.

Peter swallowed hard before asking Emma a question. "Th-that's supposed to happen…right?"

"Yeah, they're using pyrotechnics and lasers. Ain't it awesome?" she replied.

Peter nodded slightly. "Uh yeah, sure…" He saw the mist increasing and he felt like leaving the place. Unable to hold back his uneasiness any longer, he decided to speak up. "You guys, I don't know about this…that mist is getting kinda thick."

Frowning, Emma shook her head before telling him what she was thinking. "Oh god Pete, chill."

Even Ethan sounded a little annoyed. "Yeah man. Besides, if it was smoke, you'd smell it. They're just upping the performance."

Peter swallowed hard and watched the people by the front of the stage. The flame shooter on the left side of the stage suddenly stopped shooting fire, but the one on the right kept going to the beat of the music. The mist picked up some more and several of the people in front of the stage started fanning the mist away, coughing. He saw Frederick, Cassandra's friend and small celebrity, choking on the mist. People started getting a little quiet, but the band kept playing.

Suddenly, the whole left side of the stage exploded, killing Frederick and several others in the front, as well as one of the band members.

"OH MY GOD!!" yelled Emma as she took a step back.

Ethan nearly tripped over her as he leapt back as well. "OH SHIT!"

Peter remained silent, his eyes widening as far as humanly possible. People ran for the exit, falling over each other like a bull was chasing them. Peter, Emma, and Ethan ran for the exit as well, being careful not to trip and fall on the way. Looking ahead, Peter saw that the flames had already traveled up to the ceiling. One of the rafters that was nearest to the doors started collapsing.

He looked down to see that Cassandra, the only girl that had treated him like someone special tonight, was about to be killed by the falling rafter from hell. Nobody had reached the doors yet, but it seemed that they wouldn't. Cassandra, as well as anybody running next to her, was crushed in an instant. Screams of terror filled Peter's ears and for a brief instant, he thought he was going to die.

'No…' he thought to himself, 'we are getting the fuck out of here.'

People crowded about and pushed and shoved one another. To make matters worse, the exit was now blocked and on fire due to the rafter. The air reeked of smoke, sweat, and burning flesh.

"Oh god, what are we gonna do?!" yelled Emma in sheer panic.

Ethan tried to reassure his two friends as well as himself. "Stay calm! There's gotta be another way out!"

Peter turned around in a full circle, looking for some way out. The only thing he saw were the vents on top of the walls. They were too high to reach, but if everybody helped each other, they could probably reach them. "There!" he yelled out as he pointed. His two friends spun around, looking to see what he was talking about.

"What?!" they yelled.

Peter pointed again while taking a step forward. "The vents! If we move the couches around, we can help each other reach them and crawl out!"

Emma shook her head. "We don't have enough time!"

Peter argued back, "It may be the only other way out, we don't have a choice!"

"Alright, let's go!" cried Ethan, breaking the conversation.

The three of them started pushing through people to get to the walls. Once some of the others realized what they were trying to do, everybody pitched in to push the couches over and find other things to stack up to reach the vents. The sound of shattering glass and perilous screams littered the air as the students and faculty did their best to survive.

Ethan looked around for more couches or chairs to use. As he ran around, he looked up to see that the laser machine was malfunctioning. The bulbs became so overheated that they shattered. Without the bulbs to keep them steady, the now raw lasers danced around into the crowd, burning whoever was in their path. People screamed in terror as they could feel the lasers attacking their bodies, torturing them with agonizing heat.

Ethan ducked to the ground to avoid some of the incoming rays of raw heat. Peter and Emma were being pinned against the wall as people fell over each other in pain. A stray laser made its way through the crowd to Peter's shoulder. It was so hot that it nearly burned through his shirt completely.

"SHIT!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!", he screamed as he felt like the laser was burning its way into his arm. Emma yelled as the laser passed across her face, burning and partially blinding her at the same time. Peter used all of his strength to push the people off of him. He managed to push and kick his way through the people that were accidentally pinning him against the wall. Reaching back behind him, he grabbed Emma's arm and yanked her out of the crowd.

"'M, you ok?!" he yelled out.

"That fuckin' laser almost killed me!!!!" she replied, holding her face.

"Don't worry, we're gonna make it!!" he reassured her.

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it firmly as they moved behind one of the nearby pillars. Hearing Ethan yelling out, Peter and Emma looked in his direction. Emma could barely see due to the laser flashing across her eyes, but Peter saw Ethan and Lois trying to destroy the laser machine altogether. The fire was slowly getting closer to them, but in order to continue reaching for the vents, the lasers had to be shut off somehow.

Peter knew what he had to do at this point. "'M, stay here. I'm going to go help them break the laser machine before anybody else gets hurt."

"Pete, don't leave me here like that!!" she cried frightfully.

"I promise I'll be right back!! I have to help otherwise we're all gonna fry!" he replied. She was silent for a second before giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You be careful."

"I will. Sit tight!" He ran behind the pillar where Ethan and Lois were hiding. They were throwing whatever they could find to break the machine, including their cell phones and keys. "Fuck!!" yelled Ethan in pain and frustration.

Lois started panicking even more than she already had. "We need to hurry the fuck up!!!!"

Peter looked across the area from where they were standing. He saw a set of doors that were apparently locked. Seeing that throwing things at the laser machine wasn't going to work in time, he thought about breaking them open somehow. Meanwhile, Lois and Ethan continued throwing things at the machine.

"Shit!! Fuck this; there's gotta be a way out in there!!" Peter yelled as he pointed to the doors.

Lois shook her head before throwing a broken piece of a chair at the laser machine. "We were trying to open them before, they're locked! We gotta get out through the vents!"

"Too late, it's way too crowded over there now!" exclaimed Peter.

Ethan saw that his friend was right. He decided to take charge. "…Alright, Lois get Emma, we're getting out of here!"

"Okay!" she replied. After she ran over to get Emma, Peter and Ethan looked around for something strong enough to break the doors open. Just then, Lois and Emma appeared, along with Joe and Tobias.

"We gotta hurry up!!" cried Joe in fear.

Tobias ducked behind a pillar, "Everybody's getting blocked by the flames!"

Ethan looked to where the remaining survivors were and it was true. They were surrounded by the fire. Most of the people that were alive minutes ago were now dead, only a few remained. Suddenly, the group heard Drew's voice calling out to them. He was on fire and yelling for help. His leg was pinned beneath another rafter. Emma clutched on to Peter and sobbed softly as Drew screamed in both pain and terror.

The group kept trying to run over to help him, but the fire was surrounding him and getting closer. Ethan and Joe were still trying to save him, while Peter, Lois, Tobias, and Emma picked up various objects to ram the locked doors with. Drew let out a final cry as he burned. Joe and Ethan looked in shock as they realized he was now dead.

Feeling his survival instincts kick into overdrive, Peter spotted a metal stool by the bar and ran for it. As he picked up the stool, the sound of something whizzing through the air became audible. He turned around and ducked just in time to avoid a spinning ceiling fan. He tried to yell out a warning, but it was too late. The fan flew into Joe, taking off the top half of his head. Blood splattered all over Ethan's face.

As soon as he saw what happened to Joe, he screamed out and stumbled backwards. Just then, the remaining sprinklers on the ceiling finally kicked in. The water sprayed down on the inferno. The remaining five students looked at it as a blessing at first that is, until they saw various pieces of machinery starting to spark. The laser machine blew out with a violent sound. Everybody jumped back in shock.

"Ohhh shit! Hurry up!" cried Lois. The five teenagers started pounding the door with the stool and other various objects. The door started to give in a bit. Hearing a loud sizzling sound, Lois turned around to see that one of the guitar amplifiers on the stage was starting to tip over slowly. On top of that, the fire wasn't being fully put out and it kept coming towards the group. In fear, Lois looked for something to stand on to avoid the oncoming electrocution risk.

"Shit!!! EVERYBODY OFF THE FLOOR!!!!!" she yelled.

Everybody turned to see the large amplifier tipping back and forth slightly. Lois jumped on the bar counter and watched as the others increased their efforts in breaking the doors. Peter looked over at the amplifier, then to the fire reaching closer, then to Lois. The fire had made its way around the opening of the bar behind it. Peter yelled out for Lois to jump off as he saw the fire begin consuming the various cases and bottles of alcohol behind her.

"LOIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled, his eyes widening in realization of what was about to happen. She had only a moment to look over her shoulder and see that she was basically in the path of an alcoholic bomb. With nothing but fear in her body, she did the only thing she could. She screamed.

Her scream was cut short as the bar exploded completely, sending shards of glass, her blood and several now unidentifiable body parts flying everywhere. Tobias and Ethan gasped in shock, becoming distracted while Peter and Emma finally broke open the doors. Almost as if on cue, the amplifier tipped over completely and flew to the floor. Peter threw Emma through the doors and jumped in after her just as the floor was lit with electricity. Tobias and Ethan didn't make it in time and as Peter and Emma flew through the darkness behind the doors, they heard the sound of their friends being fried to death.

For a second, all Peter could hear was the sound of destruction, the light of the now intensified blaze forcing him to see the bodies of his classmates. When he saw Ethan's body, he flashed back to all those times that they hung out together. All those times that they joked around, or how he was one of the few people to help him back when he was hospitalized. But all those memories were now just history, he was dead. Tears formed in his eyes and at that moment, he wanted to be just like his friends: dead.

A voice called out his name quietly and that's when he knew that he couldn't give up. Looking around the darkness, he called out to his friend. "'M, where are you?"

"I'm…down…here…" he heard her say from a distance. Peter walked forward in the dark, "Where??"

He took slow steps as it was too dark to see in front of him. He felt around the darkness, waiting to feel a wall or something tangible. When he took his next step, he didn't feel his foot touch the floor again. It was too late to stop; he already had his body weight falling forwards. He could feel his body hitting solid ground over and over; it was then that he realized he had fallen down a staircase. Before his body stopped rolling, his forehead hit one of the stairs.

After landing on his back, he groaned in pain. He must've fallen into the basement. Liquid slid down his face slowly, eventually reaching his lips. Upon tasting it, he realized that he was bleeding. "…shit" he managed to say. Emma's voice spoke again. "…Pete…"

"'M?" He reached over and felt his best friend lying next to him. She was barely moving and he had touched something wet. Her breathing increased for a second before it stopped altogether. Peter went silent, fearing the worst. "…'M?...'M?" All he could do was sob quietly to himself. It seemed his worst fear had just become true. "Oh 'M…don't die…you can't die…please? You don't deserve this!!!"

He cried harder than he ever cried in his entire life. His best friend, the one person that he viewed as almost invincible, was now dead. Picturing the faces of everyone that died, he stood up slowly in the darkness. Emma and Ethan: his best friends. Lois: the girl of his dreams and rival. Joe: another good friend and one of the nicest guys in school. Cassandra: The only girl who reached out to him tonight. Everybody was dead and he was about to be next.

'I have to get out of here…for them…' he thought. Just as he started to walk stumble forward, the ceiling above him started collapsing. One of the pillars above him in the club fell through and pinned him to the ground. The flames above him lit up the underground area that was about to become his tomb. It was then that he saw Emma's body. She had been impaled through the back and stomach by some kind of metal rod.

He wished that this was all just a nightmare. But this wasn't a bad dream. This was reality. The weight of the pillar pressed down on him, making sure he wouldn't be able to escape. He knew that his legs were definitely broken since the pillar had collapsed on them. It was then that he heard a crumbling sound from above. Looking up, he saw one of the other pillars crashing down towards his face. Time seemed to slow down as he let out a final yell...

"You shut up! Nobody wants to play babysitter on this trip!" yelled Lois in anger.

Peter looked around him in shock. A second ago, he was about to be killed and now it was like none of it ever happened. He opened his mouth saying the next thing that came natural to him. "Yeah well it's not your problem because right now, you're playing…'class bitch'…?"

Lois clenched her fist and got ready to hit him. Ethan held her back as Tobias laughed. 'Wait a second…' Peter thought.

"C'mon guys, stop it. Let's just enjoy the night ok?" came Ethan's response. Peter's eyes widened in fear. He heard all this before. This was right before the disaster occurred. Before they were all...killed.

"Yeah, I-" Tobias started to say before being interrupted.

"Oh shit…" said Peter. Everybody looked at him with questioning expressions on their faces. Lois had a look of annoyance on her face. "What's your problem now?"

Peter stood up slowly. "You guys…we gotta get out of here…"

Emma began to speak again. "Pete, just calm down, you're just nervous because-"

"NO! We HAVE to get OUT of here NOW!!!" he interrupted. Lois started laughing. "Shit, somebody slipped this kid some crack."

"Shut UP!!! I'm serious!!!" Peter yelled, beginning to panic. Ethan put a hand on his friend's shoulder, trying to calm him down. "Whoa, whoa Pete, what's wrong?!"

Peter looked them all in the eyes and told them what he had just witnessed."This place is about to fall apart! If we don't get out of here right now, we are ALL going to die!"


	3. Fight or Flight

Chapter 3: Fight or Flight

Emma covered Peter's mouth as soon as he yelled out. "Hey stop it! You're gonna get us kicked out or something!"

Peter was feeling overwhelmed with anxiety and fear. His friends as well as Lois and Tobias just stared at him in shock and confusion. He knew that he what he just saw wasn't a dream. It was so real... he could feel the pain, he could smell the smoke, he could hear the screams. It had to be something else, a warning sign, a vision or something like that. He knew that if what he had just seen was about to happen, then he needed to get everybody out before it was too late.

"Dude what's really going on? Why are you flippin' out like this?" Ethan said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder. Peter brushed it off as quick as it had touched him. They were all looking at him like he was crazy, but he knew he wasn't. "Listen to me." he started, "I don't know how, I don't know why, but I JUST saw us all dying in here! We need to get out of here before the band starts playing."

"Band? What Band? They never mentioned any kind of-" Tobias started to say before being cut off by someone else. Everybody turned around to face the stage, where a man was beginning to introduce a band. Peter gasped and began to walk towards the stage. Ethan grabbed his arm before he could go any further, pulling him back.

"Bro, where are you going?" he asked. Peter shrugged his arm off and faced him.

"I can't explain it, but this JUST happened! The band is gonna start playing, there's gonna be some pyrotechnics, and they're gonna go haywire and end up killing ALL of us!!" he said. Turning back around, he started running to the stage. Lois and Tobias started laughing as Emma ran after him. Pushing through the crowd desperately, Peter started sweating rapidly. If he didn't stop the band from playing and get everyone out of here, the vision would come true.

"Peter! What the hell are you doing?!" Emma yelled after him as he jumped on the stage. After grabbing the microphone, he told everyone what was about to happen. "Everybody needs to get out of here right now! We're all in serious trouble!" he yelled. Ethan came up next to Emma, who was yelling for Peter to get down from the stage. Some of the teachers started moving to the stage to stop the disturbance. Everybody stared at Peter in confusion.

"I'M FUCKIN' SERIOUS! EVERYBODY START GETTING THE FUCK OUTTA HERE RIGHT NOW!!" he yelled in desperation. Nobody seemed to be listening, in fact they started laughing at him. Ethan and Emma tried to get on the stage to get him, but the teachers came and started moving everybody away from the front of the stage. They must've thought it was a prank. By this point and time, the club's bouncer made his way to the stage. As he walked onto the stage, Peter tried to tell everyone about what he saw but it was too late. The bouncer grabbed him by the neck and yanked him off the stage.

"Wait! I'm telling the truth! Everybody in here is gonna die!" he yelled as the bouncer pulled him over to the exit. Ethan and Emma followed before Joe joined them to see what was going on. Drew seemed worried about the situation and decided to heed Peter's warning. Lois, who was pissed off beyond belief that he had caused a scene, walked after him to give him a piece of her mind. Tobias wanted to hear what she was going to say, so he followed her.

Meanwhile, Peter kicked and thrashed about trying to get anybody to listen to him. It was no use. They all thought he was crazy, especially since people knew about his recent suicide attempt. Mr. Finn followed to see what was going on with his student. As the bouncer got closer to the exit with Peter, the band started to play. Upon hearing this, Peter started screaming in peril. "NO! DON'T LET THEM PLAY! THE PYROTECHNICS ARE FUCKED UP! IT'S GONNA START A FIRE, STOP!!"

The bouncer opened the exit and tried to tell Peter to leave. He didn't listen, he kept trying to push past him and stop the performance. The students and other club goers ignored him and started cheering on the band. Becoming annoyed, the bouncer shoved Peter outside onto the pavement, accidentally pushing Cassandra and Frederick, who were standing by the entrance, out with him. Ethan and Emma came out being followed by Joe, Drew, and then Lois and Tobias. Mr. Finn came out and started yelling at Peter and the others.

"I don't know WHAT you think you're doing Mr. Colón, but you just earned yourself as well as everybody else out here a bus trip back to the school, where your parents can come pick you up." he said. Everybody else outside started complaining, Lois becoming the most enraged.

"What the fuck!! We didn't even do anything!" she yelled back. Mr. Finn went back inside to notify the other teachers that they needed to call a bus while everybody outside cursed and looked at Peter.

"Wait Mr. Finn! Don't go back in there!!" he yelled as the doors closed shut again. Tobias started getting in his face.

"You're such a fucking dumb ass! Now we gotta go home all because you wanted some fuckin' attention!" he yelled. Peter turned around, his face red with fear as he started jogging away from the club. Tobias ran after him, tackling him to the ground. "I'm fuckin' TALKING to you!!" he yelled as he started hitting him the face. Ethan ran over with everybody else to break up the fight. Lois started cursing at the situation before Cassandra backed away from the group along with Drew and Frederick. Ethan and Joe pulled Tobias off of Peter before he could do any more damage.

"You son of a bitch, FUCK YOU!" cried Peter as he ran at Tobias, punching him in the stomach before most of the others tried to pull them apart again.

"You guys calm down!" Emma yelled as she pulled Peter away from everybody. Suddenly, there was an explosion from the club. The group of students spun around in shock, backing away from the club as screams started echoing through their ears. A fire started blazing about and the ceiling started collapsing, just like in Peter's vision. Seeing that everything came true, Peter fell to his knees and sobbed slightly. Everybody looked over at him in fear. He was right and they didn't believe him...until it was too late.

As the club continued to be destroyed, he looked up and yelled at everybody. "I told you! I told you this was going to happen!" he said before breaking out into tears again. Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say. They were scared, shocked, and they didn't know what to think of Peter's supposed foreknowledge of the situation. Emma came over to comfort her friend, she couldn't bring herself to say anything and neither could anybody else. So she just wrapped her arms around him. It wasn't long before she started crying as well.

Everybody watched in terror as their friends died. There was nothing they could do. There were no words. Just the decreasing screams and sirens echoing in the night.

2 Weeks Later...

Peter lay on his bed, his eyes staring out the window of his bedroom. He was supposed to be at another funeral, but after about the fourth or fifth one, he couldn't stomach any more of them. Things were pretty rough right now. His parents stopped talking to him altogether. Even though he lived with them, they exchanged no words. His religious parents thought he was demonic and wanted nothing to do with him.

School was no better. Half the students thought he was a total freak now. They stared at him in the hallways. Whenever he entered a classroom, everybody went silent, even the teachers. The police weren't any better. He went through countless questionings with the NYPD. He couldn't explain how he knew it was going to happen, but they had to make sure he wasn't involved in any way. Unable to find any evidence that he caused the accident, they left him alone.

He felt like he had committed a crime when in actuality, he was trying to save everybody. Nine people. That's the number of people he saved that night, including himself. If it weren't for his premonition, they'd all be dead right now, even him. But wasn't that what he wanted? He spent most of time sulking and being depressed, going so far as to attempt suicide multiple times. But when the time came for him to actually die, he fought it tooth and nail.

'Why?' he thought to himself. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. At first, he ignored it, but after hearing it ring again, he leaned over and looked at the caller ID. It was Emma. After a sigh, he picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hey." he said. Emma sounded as if she had been crying.

"Hi Pete." she replied. "I just got out of Laura's funeral service. Do you mind if I stop by?" she asked. He thought about it for a second. It probably wouldn't be a good idea for her to come over his house given the situation between him and his parents.

"It'd probably be best if I met you someplace else." he replied.

"...okay...you want me to come pick you up?" she asked.

"Nah, I'll come meet you so you don't have to drive me back. Meet you at the usual?" he asked her.

"Yeah sure, that sounds good. See you in a few." Emma responded.

"Okay, I'm leaving now. Bye." After hanging up the phone, he lay in bed for a few more seconds before getting up. He walked down the stairs and headed towards the coat closet. It was winter and it was starting to get colder. As he found his jacket and put it on, he looked over to the couch in the living room and saw his mother reading her bible. Even though she hadn't spoken to him since the accident, he didn't want to leave without saying goodbye.

"I'm going out, I'll be back later." he said. He watched on for a few seconds as his mother just sat in silence, continuing to read.

"Hey ma...I love you." he said unexpectedly. She didn't respond to him, she only dabbed her index finger on her tongue and turned to the next page of her book. Seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with her, he opened the front door and walked out, heading down the driveway to his car. Ever since the accident, he somehow felt really attached to his mother. He thought back to how she used to love him and he made it a goal to repair his relationship with her. After everything that happened that night, life seemed too short to be so out of touch with her. After warming up the car for a few minutes, he pulled out of the driveway and headed off to meet up with Emma.

Elsewhere...

"Sure, I'd be up for it...it sounds like a nice idea...yeah you bet...okay, talk to you later...bye." Frederick had just gotten off the phone with Cassandra. She called to ask him if he would be available for later on that night. She wanted everyone who survived to have dinner together. Since they all had common ground now, she thought it'd be nice to talk about things.

She worked delivering packages to the local Chinese restaurant owner from time to time and had become friendly with him. After hearing what happened, he offered her and her friends a free dinner. Frederick wasn't doing anything, so he was in.

Tomorrow was a big day for him. He was attending an audition for a television show set in the city. He felt confident that he was going to make it, even several local newspapers dubbed him a 'rising star'. After checking his e-mail to make sure that he had the right address, he shut down his computer and walked over to the mirror by his bed. He looked at himself, making sure that everything was perfect. He frowned after seeing that his skin wasn't as tan as he wanted it.

He used to go to a local tanning salon, but refused to go after hearing about two girls from Pennsylvania getting stuck and burning to death in their tanning beds. "I'll stick to the beach from now on!" was the first thing he said after reading the internet news article about the situation. Once he finished inspecting himself in the mirror, he sat down on his bed. For the past few days, he'd been trying not to think about what happened at The Shadows club. It scared him to imagine that he could have been in there when the accident occurred.

While people always thought of him as a snob, he was just determined to become a famous actor. His family always told him that they were proud of him, but he knew they were more proud of his older sister. She was on her way to becoming a very successful doctor and since the medical field didn't interest him one bit, he decided to use his acting talents to build a career. One day, he'd break out of her shadow and show his parents just what he was capable of.

'Tomorrow is going to be my day.' he thought. 'Tomorrow, I'M gonna be the one standing out.'

Meanwhile...

Emma sat inside the Starbucks that she and Peter usually always hung out at. Softening the crinkles in her black dress, she fought back tears of sorrow. Being present at so many funerals in the past few days was just too much. While at her friend Laura's funeral earlier, she couldn't help but feel envious of the people around her. Parents hugged their sons and daughters, holding their hands through the difficult experience of losing a friend.

She didn't have parents of her own any longer. But then again, she wouldn't know. Back when she was younger, she lived with her parents in Africa. She lived in a rough area and eventually, a local feud between different family groups caused a violent battle. Her parents wanted what was best for her and sent her to live with distant relatives in America. She wasn't yet old enough to understand what was happening around her, but she certainly wasn't young enough to not comprehend the love her parents had for her.

She remembered how the walk she took with her mother was just like the rest. Every time they walked together, her mother would pick out a flower from the local market and buy it for her. "Here is a beautiful flower for you. It will die from the heat in a few days, but I will take you back here and buy you another one." she always said.

Although this walk seemed like all the rest, it felt a little different somehow. Her mother was always smiling and happy. But today, she seemed quiet and sad. In fact, they did not go to the market that day. They arrived at a boat.

"This is for the best, little Akosua." her mother told her, calling her by her birth name. Emma didn't understand what was happening at the time, she thought she was going on a trip with her mother.

"Mother, you forgot to buy me a flower today. My other flower died remember?" said Emma. She remembered her mother's eyes becoming glassy and moist upon hearing the statement.

"Do not worry my child. There are many flowers where you are going." she replied. It was then that Emma understood what her mother was trying to tell her. They weren't going on this trip together...she was going by herself. Men came from the boat and greeted them. Emma held onto her mother's hand tightly, though she could feel her grip loosening as the men started escorting her onto the boat. Tears rolled down her mother's cheeks.

"I love you, my daughter. I always will." she said with a shaky voice. Emma became silent. She understood it all now. After today, there would be no more walks with mother. There would never again be another flower to replace her withered one. All Emma could do was watch as the boat pulled away from her mother, her image eventually fading into invisibility. Now here she sat...with no one to hold her hand through one of the worst times of her life...

Suddenly, a hand rested upon hers on the table. She jumped slightly before realizing that it was Peter.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. How are you?" he said sitting down across from her. She blinked several times, trying to push away her tears.

"Honestly, I've been better." she managed to say.

"Yeah, I know what you mean..." her friend replied. There was a silence between the two. Peter didn't know what to say. Everything seemed so dark right now, it was hard to try and carry on a normal routine. Emma looked at her friend. There was something that she wanted to ask him. Something that had been on her mind since that night.

"Can I ask you a question?" she said quietly. Peter looked up from the table and nodded. Emma continued, "I know you probably don't want to relive this again, but...how did you know it was going to happen?"

Peter sighed loudly. He had been trying to figure it out himself, but no matter how he tried to reason it, it didn't make any sense. "I don't know." he started. "I mean...it was so real. The band playing, the fire starting, people screaming...and dying..." He got choked up a bit as the memories of his vision played back in his mind over and over. Never fading, never letting up, never becoming less vivid.

Emma gripped his hand. She knew it must've been hard for him to think about. At first, she thought he was just nervous. Even when he started freaking out, she didn't think what he was saying was true. The facts were that nobody did and they paid for it. The facts were that he really wasn't just looking for attention or going nuts. And the facts were that he saved eight other people besides himself. Eight other people were alive today because of him. Was it fate? Or had they just been lucky?

"Thank you." said Emma as she rubbed his hand. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

After a deep breath, Peter spoke. "I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you." He forced a smile while fighting to push away the mental image of his best friend impaled in the darkness. He was glad that she made it out unharmed.

"So...I wanted to ask you something else." Emma started to say. "Cassandra invited us to this dinner tonight. She was going to invite you personally, but she didn't have your phone number."

Peter looked at her, wondering something. "She invited just us?"

"Well there's us and she invited Ethan, Joe, Lois, Drew, Fred, and Tobias." she replied. Peter rolled his eyes upon hearing that Lois and Tobias would be there. They would no doubt be trying to start some problems.

"Ah it's fine. I don't think I wanna-"

"Oh c'mon. It's free. Plus I could really use some company." she said, cutting him off before he could finish. He looked at her and sighed.

"Alright, I'll go." he said. Emma smiled and thanked him. "But if that Tobias kid starts some more shit, I'm gonna have to kick his ass, you know that, right?" said Peter.

"Believe me, nobody is in a fighting mood." she replied. Suddenly her cell phone started vibrating. She pulled it out of her coat pocket and answered it.

"He's going...I convinced him. Sure, that'd be cool. Pick us up in a few hours...okay bye." She hung up her phone as Peter gave her a questioning glare.

"That was Ethan. He's gonna pick us up in a bit. I figured you could come hang at my place, you know how much my aunt and uncle love you." she said in a humorous tone. Peter started laughing quietly before his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Ethan. He shook his head as he answered it.

"What's up?" he said.

"See you in a few, buddy!" Ethan yelled into his ear before hanging up. After closing and putting his phone away, Peter looked at Emma and said, "He's something else sometimes. So where is this place at tonight?"

"It's that Chinese joint over in Huntington Square." she replied. Peter nodded before putting his jacket back on. "C'mon let's head out. It's fine for to leave my car over at your place until we get back tonight?"

"Yeah no problem. Let's go." said Emma. She got up, tossing her half empty cold latte into the garbage bin. Peter came up behind her and hugged her as they walked out. "Thanks for always being there, 'M."

Later That Night...

Cassandra pushed her la-mian noodles around her plate. She thought that if everybody got together they would understand each other better. They could probably all become good friends even. But now that they were all here, she felt that maybe she thought wrong. Nobody was really speaking to each other tonight. Every now and then, Peter and Tobias would exchange some challenging looks, and Emma would pull her friend's attention away from the punk-rock kid. Ethan and Joe would try to make a few jokes every few minutes or so. They achieved some forced laughter, but nothing genuine.

Lois started complaining about her red streaks fading out of her hair when she pulled out her compact mirror. Drew and Frederick stayed quiet for most of the night. Cassandra felt disappointed that her idea didn't really work as planned but at the same time, she couldn't blame any of them. Being together like this, the only survivors of the club massacre, forced them to be reminded of how it felt that night. They hadn't been reunited like this since the accident.

"Thanks for dinner, Cassandra. That was a real nice thing to do." said Ethan, breaking the silence. Everybody else thanked her as well. This gave her some small bit of happiness, making her feel that it wasn't all in vain.

"You're welcome, I'm glad you all came." she said.

"It beats eating my mom's shitty cooking." said Lois, looking at her nails and thinking they needed another coating of red nail polish. Some of the others chuckled a bit at the comment. They had been here for an hour and a half already and it was starting to get late.

"Well, it's getting kinda late and I have my audition tomorrow so I should probably start heading out." said Frederick as he wiped his face with a napkin. Everybody else seemed to agree as they started shifting in their seats to get up. There was one last thing that Cassandra wanted to do.

"Before we all leave, let's all read our fortune cookies. Maybe it will bring us all some good luck. We could all use some right now, don't you agree?" she said. She got some mixed reactions from the group. Some looked interested, some looked like they thought it was stupid. But since she had invited them and got them all a free dinner, they nodded in agreement and took a cookie from the basket in the middle of the table.

"Okay, so why don't we open them and then read them out loud?" said Cassandra. The table went silent for a second before Ethan decided to speak up.

"Yeah sure, sounds cool. Okay, I'll go first." he said. As he opened his cookie, the table became filled with the sound of plastic being twisted apart. Peter started opening his cookie as Ethan read his aloud.

"Okay. Mine says: 'Something will shimmer from above'...what like a golden shower or something?" he said. As everybody started laughing, Peter looked at what his fortune said. As soon as he read it, an odd feeling came over him. It was similar to the night at the club. It felt like something was wrong. Tobias started reading his next.

"'The ladder to success is almost never steady'...wow. That was kinda gay." he said. Peter started sweating slightly as everyone started reading their's, but he didn't know why. Lois was next.

"'You are not afraid to die.'... What the fuck kind of fortune cookie is this? And these dumb asses, they spelled die like 'dye'. Retards." she said, showing it to Tobias before he started chuckling at it. Drew read his.

"'Keep your eyes on the road ahead.' Alrighty then." he said. Then came Frederick.

"'You will soon experience a life altering twist.' Yes! That means I'm gonna land my audition tomorrow!" he said. Cassandra read hers next.

"'Soon your thoughts will become crystal clear.' Aw that's nice!" she said. Then came Joe.

"'Nobody likes a two faced individual.' What the hell, I'm not two faced. My cookie's jacked up!" he said. Everybody chuckled again. Emma started to read hers.

"Mine says: 'A hidden door leads to trouble.'...that's so weird." she said. Finally, it was Peter's turn to read his. He hesitated slightly before reading it.

"Uh it says: 'You will soon be pleasantly surprised.' Cool. Alright, thanks again Cassandra. I had a good time." he said as he stood up out of his seat. Everybody got up and started putting on their jackets, speaking randomly to each other about the weather and how it was getting colder.

"Alright buddy, you ready to go?" Ethan asked Peter before helping Emma put on her coat.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna go use the bathroom real quick. I'll meet you guys outside." he replied. Cassandra walked over to the counter to talk to the manager about her next package that she had to deliver. After telling Peter to go take care of his business, Ethan opened the door for Emma and went outside to start his car. Everybody else followed him outside to the parking lot. Peter felt uneasy. He lied to the others about what his fortune cookie said. What it did say stirred up the same feeling he had at the club. He felt like something bad was going to happen again.

Just then, a sudden rush of air reached across his face. He looked down at the table as the various fortunes left by everybody else moved slightly with the breeze. Looking around, he saw no open windows, doors, or vents. He shuddered for a second before turning back to look at the fortunes on the table. After a moment of hesitation, he reached down and started picking them up, putting them in his coat pocket with his own. He didn't know what was going on, but something was telling him to take them. As he walked outside towards Ethan's car, he had a feeling that something horrible was about to take place.


	4. A Bad Feeling

Chapter 4: A Bad Feeling

Before he could open the car door, Peter heard someone call his name. Turning around, he saw Drew sitting in his car. After motioning to Ethan and Emma that he would be right back, Peter walked over to the rolled down window of the driver's side.

"Hey Drew, what's up?" he said. He tried his back to act like nothing was bothering him, but it was pretty hard to do that when his insides felt like they were twisting.

"I need to talk to you about something." said Drew. Peter was kind of surprised, Drew was Ethan's friend, not his. The two never really associated beyond acquaintances.

"Well, I kinda gotta run right now. Ethan's driving me back to my place and he's waiting. Can we maybe talk some other time?" he replied.

"It's important." was all that Drew said. Peter sighed before searching in his pockets for an old receipt or something. After he found one, he asked Drew for a pen. Drew searched inside his car for a second before handing him one. After writing something on the paper, Peter handed it to him.

"Here's my cell number. Call me in the morning. I can talk then." he said before walking off back over to Ethan's car. Looking up to the sky, he realized that it had started to snow. Once he opened the door and got in, Drew drove off.

"I can't believe it's fucking snowing already. Hey Pete, everything okay?" asked Ethan as he started pulling out of his parking space.

"Yeah, everything's cool. He just wanted to ask me something." said Peter. Ethan and Emma nodded, sensing the feeling that he wanted to leave it at that. The car ride was pretty silent, all three friends were off in their own worlds. After a few minutes, Ethan put on the radio to make the silence a little less uncomfortable. While everybody remained quiet, Peter couldn't seem to shake off that bad feeling. He didn't want to mention it to anyone because he knew it would scare them. Fifteen minutes later, Ethan pulled up to his house.

"Alright Pete, we'll be seeing you around." said Ethan as they did their routine 'buddy handshake'. After stepping out of the car, Peter waved to his friends.

"Call me tomorrow." said Emma as they started to drive off. Once they were gone, he went inside. His father was watching a kitchen safety program in the living room, so he went straight up to his room and shut his door. He never got along with his father and he knew that he probably never would after all the abuse he endured from him when he was younger.

Feeling dizzy, he sat down on his bed and took the fortunes out of his pocket. He was going to take another look at them, but decided not to since he felt so out of it. Placing them in the top drawer of his bedside table, he wondered what it was that Drew wanted to talk to him about. He said that it was important and he knew it probably had something to do with the recent events, he just didn't know what.

Minutes went by as he stared at the ceiling. He badly needed to rest, he'd been too afraid to fall asleep for the past few nights. Closing his eyes, he let sleep take him in. He was going to need it if he wanted to be able to think clearly.

Hours Later...

The nightmare again...Peter watched as his friends danced in the club. Once he realized where he was, he tried to warn everyone. Nobody could hear him or even see him, it was like he was a ghost. He tried desperately to make anyone hear him, but it was no use. The band started playing again. He knew what came next. A burst of light, a loud explosion. He stood screaming at the top of his lungs as the fire started dancing around on the flesh of his fellow students and friends. Powerless as he was, he could do nothing but wish for himself to wake up. The fire kept creeping forward, almost as if it were teasing him. It reached forward and caressed his skin, burning it to a crisp. Just as he thought his life was over, a sound flooded into his ears...

He opened his eyes to see that it was morning, waking out of his slumber of torment. He had been woken up from the ringing of his cell phone. 'Thank god...' he thought. After wiping the sweat off his face, he answered it.

"Hello?" he said in a tired, shaky voice.

"Hey it's Drew."

The events of the previous night came back to Peter and that's when he remembered that Drew wanted to speak to him about something.

"Can anyone hear you?" asked Drew.

"No, I'm in my room. Uh...so you wanted to talk to me?"

"It's about what you saw." Drew said. Peter went quiet, waiting to hear what else he was going to say.

"Look...I think I know what's going on." he said. Peter sat up immediately. Since he was desperate for answers, he was more than ready to hear what Drew had to tell him. "You do??" he asked.

"I was doing some research on what happened at the club and I found something out. You see...you're not the first person that this happened to...about six years ago, there was a plane explosion at JFK airport. Flight 180, do you remember that?" Drew asked.

"We were pretty young back then, but I think I remember something like that." replied Peter.

"Well there's a lot more to that accident than just the explosion."

"What do you mean?" asked Peter.

"There was this guy on the plane. Before it took off, he started yelling that the plane was gonna blow up. He and a few others got off the plane...and when the plane took off, it exploded." Drew explained. Peter stayed in shock, he couldn't believe that this happened before. That's when he had an idea.

"If I can just find that guy, he might be able to help me understand why I had that vision. What's his name? Do you know how I can get in touch with him?" he asked.

"That leads to our next problem." he replied.

"_Next _problem?" Peter asked in confusion.

"He's dead...and so are the other survivors." Drew said in a depressing tone. Peter's hope was shot to pieces. Now he'd never understand why he was chosen to have the premonition, or why he still felt uneasy even now after the accident.

"That's the _other _problem I was telling you about." Drew started. "Over time, all the survivors started dying one by one after the explosion. The thing is, they all died in the order that they would have if they had stayed on that plane..."

Peter's eyes widened as he realized what Drew was implying. "Are you telling me that this is about to happen all over again??" he said. Drew sighed as the fear inside Peter grew as strong as that night. "Are we gonna die?!"

"Until we can find out anything else, we have to stay alert. In the meantime, do you remember which one of us was the first to die?" Drew asked. Peter tried to calm down as best he could. Closing his eyes, he replayed the beginning of the accident in his mind again. He remembered that when the pyrotechnics exploded, Frederick was in front of the stage.

"It's Fred. He was killed first, it's him." he answered.

"Okay, Peter listen to me. We have to stay calm, we have to focus okay?" Drew said. Peter took a few deep breaths, trying desperately to calm himself down. Suddenly, an image flashed into his mind. He found himself standing in the snow, looking at the front of a building. It said 'Worthington School of the Arts'. A voice started to echo through his mind, it was a man yelling. Listening closely, he heard him shouting 'Aalders' repeatedly. He moved to open the front doors but as soon as he looked at his reflection in the glass, a dark shadow flew across it behind him. Becoming terrified at the sight, he snapped back into reality only to hear Drew asking him if he was okay.

"Drew, I think I just saw something. I was at someplace called Worthington School of the Arts and some guy kept yelling 'Aalders'. I went to check it out, but some kind of...I don't know, a monster or something showed up." he explained.

"Wait a second, Fred's last name is Aalders, he had an audition today at some art school." said Drew.

Peter's blood went cold. "Oh shit...he's in trouble! I gotta get to him before it's too late!" Hanging up the phone, he redialed Emma to see if she knew where this place was. As he listened to the call ringer, he threw on some pants.

"Hello?" said Emma.

"'M! I need your help! Do you know where the Worthington school is?!" he yelled in panic.

"Whoa slow down, you talking about the art school?" she asked.

"Yes! That's the one, I need to get there fast, Fred's in trouble! Can you please drive me there??" he asked.

"Pete, what's going on?!" she said.

"It's Fred, I had another vision. If I don't get to him in time, he's gonna die!" he yelled.

"What?! Okay, okay I'll be right over!" she said before hanging up the phone. Looking out the window, he saw that it was still snowing, but now it was heavy.

"DAMN IT!!" he yelled as he knew it would slow them down. He ran around, throwing on some warmer clothes. His parents had gone to work, so he knew he was alone. However, he had a horrible feeling that he wasn't. He felt like someone or something was watching him. He did his best to ignore it as he ran downstairs to wait for Emma.

Eventually, fifteen minutes passed and he was still waiting for Emma to get there. He would've taken his own car, but in the state of mind he was currently in, he'd have better luck driving drunk. He had tried to call Cassandra to get Frederick's number, but her phone was off. She must've still been sleeping. After another five minutes, he looked outside to see Emma pulling up. It was a good thing that she lived nearby. Beeping her horn, Peter ran outside, nearly tripping in the snow multiple times. Opening the passenger door, he jumped in and put on his seatbelt while Emma took off as fast as she could go without getting into an accident.

Meanwhile, Five Minutes Later...

Frederick sat in his seat, rehearsing the lines that he had been given for the audition. He tried to concentrate as hard as he could but he was having difficulty. So many other people stood around talking out loud, throwing his concentration off. He couldn't let anybody ruin his focus, he needed to do this for himself. He needed to prove that he was something to be noticed.

As he finished reading off his lines for the thirty-fourth time, he looked up to see how the audition process was coming along. Every ten minutes or so, a new batch of aspiring actors would be called to the stage. He laughed to himself as one of the other guys tripped on his way up the stairs. He knew that he had more talent than half the people in here.

"Can we get another fan up here? These lights are fuckin' intense." yelled one of the casting director from his seat up on the stage. A maintenance worker yelled back to him, "The only other fan we got is high powered and it isn't working properly. It takes a while for it to go on!"

"I don't give a sweet damn, its way too hot up here with all these lights! Just hook it up and we'll wait for it to work!" the casting director responded.

After muttering some silent curses to himself, the maintenance worker got one of his friends and went off to get the fan. Frederick rolled his eyes in frustration. 'What part about courtesy do these guys not understand?' he thought to himself. Forcing himself back into practicing his lines, he did his best to ignore all the craziness around him.

Meanwhile, Ten Minutes Later...

"So this whole thing started with this Flight 180 shit?" said Emma as she neared the exit they were looking for. Peter had done his best to explain everything that Drew had told him. He didn't want to bother her with any of this, but seeing as how she was a survivor as well, he had no choice. She was in danger just like himself and everyone else.

"That's what Drew told me, but there's _gotta_ be a way to stop all this. I just have to figure out what it is."

"You mean _we_ have to figure out what it is." replied Emma. Peter nodded in realization that she was going to help him no matter what. He tried his best to be calm so that he didn't pressure her to speed and possibly lose control of the vehicle.

"Don't worry, Pete I'm sure we'll make it in time." she said in an attempt to reassure both her friend as well as herself. Finally, they reached the exit to the school and got off the highway. They were almost there.

Meanwhile, Frederick's turn was coming up pretty soon. He sat back watching as the maintenance worker tried to make the fan work faster. He had hooked up the large fan minutes ago, but it still wasn't on. Getting fed up with it, the worker got off the stage and walked off someplace. Frederick felt like he had his lines down, but he was still nervous. Before leaving his house earlier, he took his lucky scarf. He had it since his last year of junior high, which is where he first starting getting into the acting business. Looking on as his turn was approaching, he exhaled nervously.

Outside, Peter and Emma pulled up to the school. As soon as they parked, they quickly jumped out of the car and ran for the front doors. It was just as Peter had seen it. The snow, the building with the name on it, the glass doors. As they approached the entrance, Peter looked into the glass reflection to see if that shadowy figure would appear. To his relief, there was no such figure.

They ran in, looking around to see if Frederick was anywhere in sight. "I don't see him." said Emma. Peter kept looking around through all the people inside, hoping to see him somewhere.

"Aalders! Aalders! You're up next." yelled the frustrated casting director. The sound of his voice made Peter turn instantly; that was the man he heard in his vision. Looking to the front of the stage, he saw Frederick about to get walk up. The two friends ran for the stage, looking for any possible dangers in which Frederick would be killed.

"Fred! Fred! Wait!" cried Peter as he approached the stage. Frederick turned around to see them running towards him.

"What the hell?" he said as he stopped in his tracks halfway up the stairs to the stage.

"Fred, I think you're in danger. You have to come with us right now." said Peter as he caught his breath. Emma didn't really know what to look for, she just knew that after Peter's first vision, she'd never doubt him again.

"No way, are you kidding me? This is the opportunity of a lifetime, I've been waiting for this day forever! Don't come in here acting like a nut just to-"

"Fred, I'm trying to _help _you, you're in danger here!" Peter interrupted.

"Aalders, are you doing this or not?" said the casting director. Frederick nodded and came up on the stage, standing right behind the high powered fan that still hadn't worked yet. Peter and Emma ran up the stairs and yelled for Frederick to listen.

"He was right once before, you need to listen!" yelled Emma.

"You guys are ruining my shot at this!" he said as he started wrapping his lucky scarf around his neck. "Why don't you wait until AFTER I'm done to try and pull something like this on me! I've sacrificed too much to let some nut case ruin it for me!"

Just as he finished tying the scarf around his neck, the high powered fan behind him finally kicked in. The end of his scarf flew over his shoulder and into the blades of the fan, becoming entangled before snapping his neck and killing him instantly. The cracking sound it made seemed to linger in Peter's ears as he covered his mouth in disgust and shock. With Frederick's dead weight now pulling on the fan, it tipped over and slammed into his face, blood spattering all over the floor around it.

"Oh, god!!" cried Emma as she grabbed onto her friend, turning away, not being able to look at the vicious accident . Screams filled the auditorium once everybody realized what had just happened. Peter wanted to avert his eyes, but was too paralyzed to do so. Instead, he just stood there, watching as Frederick's blood crept closer and closer to his feet.

Suddenly, a small piece of paper fell out of the now deceased student's pocket, the air from the fan blowing it across the floor and into the puddle of blood before Peter's feet. Slowly looking down, he realized that it was the fortune that Frederick had gotten last night from the Chinese restaurant. He gasped in shock as he partially saw and remembered what it said. A flash from last night played back in his mind as he could hear Frederick reading his fortune out loud, "You will soon experience a life altering twist"...It was almost as if Death itself was taunting him...

Was it sheer coincidence that Frederick's neck was 'twisted' after receiving that fortune? Was it also a coincidence that Peter felt the need to take the rest of them last night? Were these all serving as warning signs for everybody who survived the club disaster? Peter didn't know the answer to these questions at the moment. All he knew was that if he didn't hurry up and find a way to stop this, everyone including himself would soon be joining Frederick; as Death would claim them all.


	5. Understanding the Rules

Chapter 5: Understanding the Rules

Later that night, Peter and Emma sat quietly in Drew's living room. They hadn't been able to speak for awhile now. Seeing Frederick die right in front of them earlier was sure to scar them for life. Ethan was on his way over, he had just gotten out of work. Frederick's shocking death was reported on the news shortly after the accident. 'He said it was his day to get noticed.' thought Peter. 'It just wasn't in the way that he thought.'

Emma sipped quietly at the tea that Drew had given her earlier. While she was shocked and sad at the thought of what happened to her fellow classmate, she was terrified at the other thought that she would end up just like him soon. Drew came back into the room and sat down with his laptop. A moment of silence passed before he spoke.

"I think I found something." he began. "It says here that according to claims made by Alex Browning, the guy who got off Flight 180, there is a way to stop Death from killing those on its list."

"List?" asked Emma, becoming a bit lost in what he meant.

"We're all on it. Alex Browning claimed that Death was a force and that it had a plan. In our case, we were never supposed to leave the club. We were meant to die that night, just like you said, Peter. But since we cheated Death, it's coming back for us now. That's what the list means." he said.

Emma nodded, looking down into her tea cup. "Yeah. That's sounds hopeful." she said sarcastically. Drew looked at her and frowned before continuing to say what he found.

"Browning also claimed that in order to beat Death, someone had to intervene. Meaning that we would have to save whoever was next from harm before it was too late. After that, Death would skip that particular person and move on to the next. After all of us are skipped, Death would stop hunting us." he concluded.

"If this whole thing works, then why are all the survivors dead now?" asked Peter. Drew thought about it for a second. He did have a point.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe they couldn't save each other in time. Anyways, its worth a shot. There's nothing else that I've found that could help us." he replied.

Emma sighed, thinking of another question. "Pete, who was next after Fred?" she asked. Looking down, he remembered that after Frederick, Cassandra was killed trying to escape.

"Cassandra was supposed to die next." he said aloud. Drew grabbed a pen and paper off the table next to his and handed it to Peter.

"Maybe you should write down the order, so we have a better idea." he said. Peter looked at Emma and then back to Drew. He sighed before slowly taking the pen and paper, beginning to think of the order. He wrote down Frederick's name and then Cassandra. Thinking back, he remembered that Drew had burned to death before Joe got killed. Then came Lois. Suddenly, he faced a problem.

"Wait...I don't know who died first after this. Emma and Drew looked over at the list, trying to see what he was talking about and secretly wondering when their turn was coming. After Drew saw his name, he swallowed hard. Peter noticed their uneasiness and tried to continue on with what he was saying.

"After Lois, Ethan and Tobias both got electrocuted at the same time. I never saw which one of them died first." he said.

"There has to be a way to find out. Otherwise we won't know who to look out for when their turn comes around." said Emma. The room filled with silence again. All three of them tried to think of a way to figure out who could have died first. While Emma and Drew worked out different kinds of patterns on paper, Peter thought back to his premonition again. No matter how many times he played it over, he still couldn't see who died first. Cursing mentally, his mind started to wander to before the accident. 'Maybe it was the way we sat on the bus or something?' he thought.

'This is stupid, I can't believe this.' he said mentally. He thought to after they got off the bus, trying to see if there was anything different that might stand out. Suddenly, a thought came to him. "Wait a minute..." he started to say, immediately catching his other two friends' attention. He remembered standing in line, waiting to get inside. He knew that Emma was in front of him and that she had died right before him. He knew that he was the last person off the bus and that everyone behind him weren't his classmates. He thought back to Mr. Finn handing out those stupid little tickets.

"You guys remember when Mr. Finn gave us those attendance tickets?" he asked. Emma and Drew looked at each other and then nodded.

"Well when we were standing in line, I remember seeing Fred, Cassandra, and Drew up towards the front. Lois was behind Joe and Tobias was behind her like always. Ethan stood somewhere down the line after him. It's like we were lined up in the order of Death already, so then Tobias died before Ethan." he said as he wrote down Tobias' name, followed by Ethan's. He concluded the list by writing down Emma's name and then his own.

"Okay...so now we know who to look out for." said Emma quietly as she saw her name on the list. Drew looked up at them and said, "We need to go find Cassandra."

"She's not in danger right now. I can feel it." Peter said. He didn't feel the panicked fear he had felt back at the club and before Frederick died. He somehow knew that she was safe for now.

"But we need to figure out how she's supposed to die before she _does_ get into trouble." said Drew as he shifted in his seat. Immediately, something came to Peter's mind as soon as he heard Drew's statement.

"Okay this is gonna sound really stupid but just hear me out. Last night when everybody was reading their fortune cookies, I felt like something was wrong. After everybody finished, I felt deep down, that I needed to take them. After Fred died, his fortune came out of his pocket. He must've been carrying it for good luck. His said that he would experience a 'life altering twist'. His life was definitely altered today, but it said there would be a 'twist'. He died because his neck was snapped, get it?" he tried to reason.

Emma and Drew looked skeptical. Peter couldn't blame them though, it did sound a little farfecthed. Just then, the doorbell rang. It had to be Ethan. Sure enough once Drew opened the front door, it was.

"Hey guys...how you all holding up?" he said as he sat down in the living room. Peter shrugged his shoulders as he looked to the clock above Drew's television. Emma took a deep breath and pointed to the paper on the table in front of them.

"That's the order that we're supposed to die in." she said as Ethan picked it up. His face went pale once he saw it. Before he could start panicking, Drew filled him in on everything that he had just told Emma and Peter, as well as Peter's idea about warnings coming from their fortune cookies last night. Minutes later, after he understood everything that they were telling him, Ethan looked at Peter.

"Pete, if you're right about this whole fortune cookie thing, then we can use them to have a heads up on what exactly we're supposed to be looking to prevent. You said you kept them?" he asked.

Peter nodded before replying, "Yeah I took them. They're in my room back over at my place."

"Alright well, we need to see what Cassandra's said. That way we can warn her about it." he replied. Emma stood on her feet and motioned towards the door.

"C'mon you guys, let's go get them. Drew are you coming with us?" she asked.

"I would but my parents are gonna be home soon. They've been really worried about me going out late after the accident. Call me and let me know what you find, okay?" he said. As Peter and Emma said their goodbyes and walked out the front door to her car, Ethan could see that Drew was holding back his fear of the situation. After all, his turn was coming up pretty soon. If by some chance they couldn't save him in time, he'd be dead. None of them really wanted to think of that now, with everything being so raw in their minds.

"Hey bro'." he started to say to Drew. "Don't worry, we're gonna make it through this."

Drew nodded forcefully and gave him a firm handshake. "Thanks." he said.

Later, In Peter's Driveway...

Emma and Ethan sat in her car as Peter opened the passenger door. "Sorry you guys couldn't come in. You know how my parents are." he said as he sat down. He fumbled through his pocket for a second before pulling out a handful of fortunes. "Here they are." he said.

"Which one is Cassandra's?" asked Emma as she turned on the overhead light in the car. Peter sorted through them, passing both Emma and Ethan's fortunes before finding it.

"It's this one." he said. Holding it in the middle of the driver and passenger seats so that Ethan could see it in the back, he read it out loud. "Soon your thoughts will become crystal clear..."

All three friends went silent, trying to figure out what it meant. "Maybe...it means crystal as in crystal meth? She might use it and die?" said Ethan.

"Cassandra doesn't do drugs." replied Emma as she thought harder. Peter scratched his head as he looked out the window. 'Crystal clear.' he thought.

"Okay well, what else is crystal clear? There's glass, there's water...well maybe it's not so literal. What could this thing about her thoughts mean?" he said aloud.

"Beats me. I dunno Pete, maybe it was just a coincidence that Fred's fortune sounded like a warning. I mean...its normal for people to reason it out that way, you know?" said Ethan. Peter shook his head.

"I swear, it has to have some kind of connection. Why else would I have been feeling so weird about it?" he replied. Everybody went silent. They were completely clueless as to what it meant. Emma had an idea.

"Okay we're not getting anywhere with this. Maybe there's something else. Either way, we have to warn Cassandra about this whole thing. Tell you what. I'm gonna call Drew when I get back home. He knows where she works. I'll tell him everything we came up with and then first thing tomorrow morning, I'll pick you guys up and we'll go to her job and catch her before she starts her shift." she said.

"I can't go with you guys, my brother is coming back from out of town and I have to pick him up in the morning. Right after I drop him off at home, I'll come meet you guys." said Ethan. Emma nodded and then looked to Peter.

"Is that alright with you?" she asked.

"Sure. Call me before you leave." he replied. After they said their goodbye's, Ethan went back into his car and as soon as his two friends both drove off, Peter went back inside. This all seemed like such a nightmare. He hoped that what Drew told him was right. For all their sakes, he hoped that they really could cheat Death again.

Knowing that he was going to be up pretty early in the morning, he decided to take a shower now since he knew he wasn't really a morning person. A few minutes later, he started to turn on the shower in the bathroom. As he got into the water, he still continued to ponder what Cassandra's fortune cookie could mean. He knew that Ethan and Emma thought that there was something else other than the fortunes, but nothing else really made sense to him. Then again, neither did the fortune.

Minutes went by as he let the warm water caress his body. Looking down to his scarred legs, he wondered where it all went wrong. He could almost feel the blade reaching across his legs again, could almost feel the blood dripping down to the shower floor. It was like they served as a reminder of just how low he had fallen. Having dealt with serious bouts of depression and suicidal thoughts, he felt that cutting was his only way out. He couldn't talk to his parents about anything and even though Ethan and Emma were always there for him, he used to feel like a cold hard knife was his only friend.

But that was all changing now, that was all in the past. Now that his life was in danger, he found himself fighting to keep it like he never had before. 'In a way, it's funny.' he thought to himself. 'It took a near death experience for me to value my life.'

Willing his depressing thoughts away, he began to think about Cassandra's fortune again. He started to repeat it over and over out loud to himself. Out of nowhere, the shower water suddenly turned ice cold. Peter gasped in shock as he tried to reach for the knob. It was so frigid that he felt like he was having a heart attack. After managing to take the water off, he took a minute to catch his breath.

'What the fuck was that all about?' he thought as he stepped out and warmed himself up with a towel. Leaving the bathroom, he went to his room and got into his pajamas. As he slowly warmed back up, he somehow felt that there was more to that experience than faulty pipes.

Elsewhere...

Cassandra hung up the phone with her manager. She had to come in a little earlier than expected tomorrow morning. 'I can't wait to go back to Paris.' she thought to herself as she combed her blonde hair. Having just transferred to the American system of education last year, she found that at times she wanted ever so badly to go back to her home. Although she tried her best to be friendly, she felt misunderstood and unappreciated. She always felt that she did all that she could to make people happy, but more than half of the time, it just exploded back in her face.

Before crawling into bed, she looked outside her window. 'Wow.' she thought. 'I've never seen so much snow and ice in my entire life.' She knew that she'd probably have to wake up earlier to warm up her car. The sound of icy branches scratching against her window made it difficult for her to get comfortable, but knowing that she had to get some sleep for tomorrow, she stuffed her head under the pillows and tried to block it out as best she could.

The Next Morning...

Peter put on his coat and walked out the door to meet Emma outside. Earlier, she had called him and said that Drew was going to drive his own car and have them follow him to Cassandra's job. He was always very nervous about driving with other people, since he was easily distracted. After getting into Emma's car and greeting her, they started to follow Drew as he drove off.

"Did you think of anything else?' asked Emma. Peter shook his head before replying, "Well, I honestly couldn't think of what the fortune meant. Same luck with you?"

"Yeah nothing for me either." she replied.

"So where exactly does Cassandra work?" asked Peter as they followed Drew onto the highway.

"She works at this delivery place over by Belmont Lake. The place up the hill from that factory that spews all that shit? You know what I'm talking about?" she answered.

"Ohhh yeah, that factory was supposed to be getting shut down soon." said Peter as he looked out the window.

"I don't know how Cassandra does it but it's-DAMN!!" yelled Emma as she saw a truck swerve in front of Drew's car without signaling.

"Oh my god, what a fucking dumb ass!" yelled Peter as he shook his head, catching his breath from the sudden jolt of surprise. After a few seconds, he noticed that uneasy feeling starting to build up again...

Elsewhere...

"How heavy are these boxes anyway?" said Cassandra as she hauled one off to where her delivery van was. She was being careful not to slip as her workplace was located at the top of a hill. The last thing she needed right now was to slip on some ice and slide down the hill. This was about her third box that she was dragging over to the van. Belmont Lake sat just to the edge of the hill, where it had been iced over due to all the snow.

After resting a box down next to her van, she turned back to get the next one. As soon as she turned around, a thick tree branch broke and fell on top of the van before rolling off and knocking one of the boxes over the edge, down the hill towards the icy lake.

"Oh COME ON!!" she yelled as she watched it bounce down the hill and slide slightly across the lake. Her boss was busy on the phone with a customer and she knew how he got when he was bothered. After a sigh of frustration, she decided to just go down there and get it herself. First, she put all the other boxes into the van that she left on the ground. There was no way that she was going to let another box fall down the hill.

Carefully, she started to walk down. She grabbed onto the nearby trees for support so that she wouldn't slip and fall. 'I don't get paid enough for stupidity like this.' she thought to herself as she finally neared the lake. She was afraid to walk on the ice so after a moment of hesitation, she placed one foot on it and pushed to see how stable it was. It didn't feel like it was going to break so carefully and slowly, she began to walk across to the box. It was that far away so she stayed as calm as possible.

Meanwhile...

"'M, she's not answering her phone, I just called it three times." said Peter as he started to sweat.

"I don't know, maybe she has it on silent. She's supposed to be at work in a few minutes. Just stay calm, we're not gonna miss her this time, okay?" said Emma, trying to reassure him. Though she spoke confidently, the fact that Peter was feeling nervous again made her feel even worse deep down inside. Meanwhile in Drew's car, he was starting to become frustrated.

"What the hell is this, man?" he said as the truck ahead of him turned at the same exit that they all needed to get off at. He felt like the truck was slowing them down, not to mention that they had just turned onto a two lane street. He couldn't drive around the truck because then Emma would have to do the same right away to keep up. In front of him, he noticed that the truck was carrying some kind of metal sheets used for construction.

Back at the lake, Cassandra's phone vibrated repeatedly inside the van. Since she didn't know her friends were trying to warn her of oncoming danger, she tried to push the box back to the side of the bottom of the hill so that she could somehow pull it back up. She wasn't having much success as she kept almost slipping on the ice. Going to give it another shot, she froze where she felt the ice cracking underneath her. Panicking she tried to move as fast as she could, but the ice cracked and she fell into the freezing water. The box fell into the hole she had made, but not completely. It stayed half above and half underneath the water, blocking her from coming back up to the surface.

She screamed mentally as she tried to push up against it. It seemed to be useless however as the box didn't budge at all. She struggled to keep holding her breath as the coldness attacked her body. Her oxygen started escaping from her mouth, air bubbles rising up and spreading underneath the ice. Gathering all her strength, she pushed at the ice around the box, desperately attempting to shatter it. Her numb fists pounded frantically against the frozen surface. After everything she had just been through, she couldn't believe she was about to die.

But just when all hope seemed lost, she manage to break some the ice around the box, causing it to fall completely into the water. After pushing the box aside, she leaped up out of the hole and gasped for air. The harsh winds blew against her wet form as she crawled slowly onto the snow by the lake. Her heart beat had never been so fast and she still struggled to breath in some air. Her once peach colored skin had now turned blue. Laying on her stomach underneath a tree, she fought to keep herself alive. She couldn't even yell for help, her voice was gone.

Suddenly she faintly heard another cracking sound from above. Barely bringing herself to look up, a thick icicle fell off a tree branch and violently plunged into her temple, killing her instantly and ending her suffering for good. Blood seeped out of her head and stained the snow around her as the wind blew against her corpse, turning her skin to frost.

Elsewhere...

Peter's heart sank as he no longer sensed Cassandra's presence. He didn't know how but inside, he knew that she was dead. He had no time to remorse now as he realized that Drew was now next.

"Oh god, Emma, Drew's next!!" he yelled, sitting up in his seat abruptly. Before she could react, a tree branch fell onto the hood of the car from above. Startled, Emma temporarily lost control of her car and swerved to the left, making it spin in full 360's before the brakes kicked in. Drew looked back in his rear view mirror after hearing the car. He moved to stop the car but realized that he was about to slam into the truck ahead of him.

"Shit!" he yelled before he slammed into the truck, accidentally releasing the cables on the back of it that were tying the construction materials together. As soon as the cables snapped, one of the metal sheets flew off the back and sliced through the windshield, practically turning the car into a convertible.

Silence filled the air for what seemed like forever. Unbuckling their seat belts, Peter and Emma opened their doors and stepped out. They approached Drew's car slowly, not being able to see inside due to smoke from the engine. All they could see was the metal sheet stained with blood hanging halfway off the back of his car. Standing next to each other and reaching for each other's hands, the two said a silent prayer. The smoke finally cleared, revealing Drew. He was cut in half horizontally along with the rest of the car. His upper half lay in the back seat with the bottom of his ribcage and half of his spine exposed. His lower half stayed in the driver's seat, squirting blood with a hissing sound as the torn flesh of his waist sagged over the belt on his jeans. As soon as they saw the bloody massacre, Emma and Peter jumped back screaming, clutching on to each other in fear and sickness. The horrible, copper-like smell of blood invaded their nostrils as stream rose from the severed body of their deceased friend...


	6. Survivors' Gathering

Chapter 6: Survivors' Gathering

"Bullshit!" yelled Lois as she flipped her middle finger at Peter. "How are you seriously standing there trying to scare us all?" she yelled in anger before going into another violent coughing fit. The harsh weather had caused her to catch a cold earlier. After the accident with Drew and hearing about what happened to Cassandra on the news, Peter and Emma decided that in order to keep everyone safe, they all had to be prepared. So here at a local deli, all the remaining survivors gathered: Ethan, Emma, Peter, Lois, Tobias, and Joe.

"Lois, I'm not trying to scare you guys, I'm trying to warn you. Drew told us how Death works, he told us about this whole plan." replied Peter. Emma wiped her tears away with a Kleenex tissue, the image of Drew's mutilated body never leaving her thoughts.

"He knows what he's talking about, Lois. We've both witnessed it for ourselves more than once now." she said. Lois clicked her tongue while rolling her eyes.

"So what's the deal with these fortune cookies that you guys mentioned earlier?" asked Joe as he leaned back into his chair. Peter looked in his direction before beginning to explain.

"I think the fortune cookies were warning us." he said. Tobias started laughing at the comment. Ignoring him, Peter continued to speak. "Look you may not wanna believe it, but we've seen a connection. Cassandra's fortune said that her 'thoughts would become crystal clear'. Where are your thoughts? Your head. What happens to her? Her head gets impaled with an icicle. 'Crystal clear' making sense now? And then there's Drew, his said to keep his 'eyes on the road'. Today, he gets distracted and dies in a car accident. Get it? It's all connected."

Ethan believed that his friend was telling the truth. Although he hadn't witnessed the deaths of his friends, he was beginning to see a pattern. Three unusual deaths in a row couldn't all be coincidences. Out of the six classmates, only Peter, Emma, and Ethan knew the order in which everybody would die. They didn't tell Lois, Joe, and Tobias because they didn't want them to become paranoid. They needed them to be alert and calm, not nervous and frantic.

"Okay, we already know what our fortunes said, what are we supposed to be looking out for exactly?" asked Joe, obviously more concerned than Lois and Tobias.

"They're giving us hints and clues as to what we have to avoid. It can be symbolic, it can be one hundred percent literal. We don't know for sure, all we know is that we have to be on guard." explained Peter as he handed out everybody's fortunes to them.

"Keep mine." said Tobias. "I'm not going with this bullshit. You guys need to understand that shit happens, people die. You need to stop flipping out over accidents and then trying to reason out a whole damn story. You wanna know how to avoid Death? Here's some advice: Don't drink and drive. Say no to drugs. Always use protection. Get the picture? Now, if you guys are finished, I'm getting the fuck outta here. I got shit to do." As he finished his statement, he turned and left the deli without looking back.

"And on that wonderful note, I think I'll be leaving as well. I need to go take some medicine before I cough to death." said Lois as she got up out of her seat. Emma got up and looked at her.

"I'm coming with you. You may not believe any of this, but I do. I want to make sure that you get home safely." she said to her. Lois coughed again before going silent.

"Fine." she said. Looking over to Peter, she motioned in his direction and spoke again to Emma. "He's not coming with us is he?"

Peter looked down, slightly feeling embarrassed by what she had just said. Emma looked at him and then back to Lois before replying, "He saved your life once, he can do it again. If I were you, I'd start showing him some respect."

Taking both Lois and Peter by surprise with her comment, Emma motioned for them all to leave. As she and Lois started heading back outside to their cars, Peter stayed behind a second to say something to Ethan. Leaning in close to his ear, he asked him a favor.

"Hey 'E, you know Joe's next...can you keep an eye on him until we get back?" he asked. Ethan avoided looking at Joe right after the statement, knowing that he would think they just talked about him. Nodding, he patted Peter on the back and responded with a simple, "No problem."

After thanking him, Peter turned around and headed back to follow Emma and Lois. Before he could get out of the deli, he heard a splashing sound. Looking through the glass door, he saw that Lois had tripped and fell in a puddle of ice cold water. She cursed loudly as he jogged outside.

"Are you okay?!" he asked as Emma helped her stand back up.

"Fuck! This is so not what I need right now!" yelled Lois shakily as she shivered. Upon seeing her wet and coughing, Peter took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She jumped slightly from his gesture, turning to yell at him. Instead of yelling at him, she remained silent, thanking him with a nod.

"Damn Lois, you can't drive home like this. Leave your car here and we'll come back when you get warmed up and take some medicine." said Emma, wrapping her arms around her in an attempt to keep her warm.

"No, I can't leave the car here, my parents will kill me if they find out I left it here." protested Lois.

"Well you can't drive, and if we don't get you home fast, you're gonna catch pneumonia or something." said Emma.

"No I really can't leave my car here." replied Lois. Emma sighed and shook her head. Then, an idea came to her mind.

"Okay so one of us can drive your car back, while the other drives you home." said Emma. Lois looked at Peter, blankly.

"There's no way that he's driving my car." she said.

"Okay so then I'll drive your car and he can drive you home. Okay?" said Emma in a tone of annoyance.

"And there's also no way I'm getting in a car with him." said Lois in protest. Emma rolled her eyes before yanking the car keys out of Lois' hand.

"Bitch, deal. I'll drive your fucking car home and he'll drive you the fuck back, alright?" yelled Emma as she walked around to get into Lois' car. Lois opened her mouth to say something else, but Emma looked back at her and silenced her. "And no you're not riding with me. You need some alone time to apologize to Peter for your arrogant behavior. This is not open for discussion any longer. Get in the car and grow up." As she got into the car, she mumbled something in her native language before closing the door. Peter and Lois looked at each other.

Back in the deli, Joe and Ethan were getting ready to leave as well. Joe had been looking at his fortune, trying to understand what it could mean. Ethan was just as confused by it.

"I don't get it, dude. I'm not a two-faced person at all." said Joe. Ethan nodded his head and gave another suggestion.

"Maybe it's not you. Maybe it's warning you to look out for a traitor or something? You got any beef with anyone on the football team lately?" he asked. Joe shook his head, unable to think of anyone in particular.

"I don't have any problems with many people right now. I can't think of anyone at all. I haven't given anybody a reason to try and do something to hurt me, let alone kill me." said Joe.

"Yeah it's weird. But listen, since Peter and Emma are sticking with Lois, I should probably stick around you for a bit to make sure nothing happens." Ethan said. Joe nodded, seemingly having no problem with it.

"No problem, I don't mind, I'd rather have help to figure this stuff out anyways. Before we go, I'm gonna get some food to bring home. You want something?" Joe asked. Ethan shook his head, "Nah I'm good. I'll wait for you right here."

Joe walked up to the counter to order a sandwich. The employee that was on duty seemed to be having some trouble with the meat cutter. The machine was supposed to be working since it had just gotten fixed last week. The blade would lift up in the air and cut down on the meat, but every now and then, the blade would get stuck in the down position, getting jammed.

"I'll be right with you sir." the employee said as he yanked up on the blade, trying to lift it back into the air. After finally lifted it, he sighed and turned around.

"Okay. What would you like?" he said. Joe made his order, taking a cup to fill a drink with. Ethan continued to think about the fortune cookie, looking at the paper as Joe poured some orange soda into his cup.

Back on the road, Peter and Lois stayed silent. To make matters worse, Emma's heat had just stopped working. Lois shivered slightly as Peter kept his eyes focused on where he was going. Emma drove ahead of them. Since she had been to Lois' house a few times, she knew where it was. Finally wanting to break the silence, Peter spoke up.

"So...I know you don't like me. I just hope you don't still think I'm lying about all this." he said.

"Oh shut up." replied Lois. Peter swallowed hard, unsure of what to say. A few more seconds passed by. Surprisingly, Lois spoke again, but this time, it was in a softer tone. "I'm sorry." she said. Peter was shocked.

"Wh-what?" he stuttered.

"I always give you a hard time, but actually...I never thought you were all that bad. Tobias hated you and I kinda had a crush on him, so I hated you too. Anybody can see that he likes me too. Truth is...he's always trying to impress me with some bullshit. At least you didn't." she said. Peter was speechless. This had to be the most she had ever said to him, besides 'fuck you' and 'drop dead'.

"Wow." he managed to say. She laughed slightly before coughing again. Then she spoke again. "Don't go telling people any of this, otherwise I'll have to go back to hating you. I might be believing some of this Death stuff. So if we live through this whole thing, maybe we could start over. Be friends or something. Whatever, you know?" she said.

"You know something, Lois. You are a mystery." Peter said before laughing. "But I'd like that. Friends? That would be MUCH better than enemies." he finished. Lois coughed a little bit again. A small smile formed on her face.

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Peter said as they continued to drive.

At the Deli...

'I really don't think this makes any sense.' thought Ethan. Walking back over to the counter, Joe watched as the employee pulled the blade down slowly, cutting the meat for his sandwich. Again the blade got stuck, causing the employee to groan in frustration. He struggled, pushing up against the blade with all his might. A few seconds later, he exhaled loudly.

"Sir I'm really sorry, this things been getting jammed for two weeks now. I'm gonna go get my manager and see if he can loosen up the screws or something. I'll be back in one minute, sorry about that." he said before pushing open the back door and leaving visible sight. Joe looked at the blade, frustration building inside of him. Turning back to Ethan, he said, "The things probably not jammed at all, he's so scrawny, I'm surprised he was able to push open that door."

Ethan chuckled at his friend's comment, trying to be quiet so that the worker wouldn't hear them joking about him. Joe shook his head and started walking around the counter.

"Dude what the hell are you doing?" asked Ethan.

"I'm gonna show you what I mean. I'll fix this piece of junk before the manager gets over here." replied Joe.

Placing his cup of soda on the counter behind him, Joe started pushing up on the blade. One push and he realized that the blade was indeed stuck. 'Damn, it is jammed. Whatever, I'll fix this crap anyways.' Ethan felt weird about something. As he held Joe's fortune in his hands, it suddenly ripped in half, right down the middle. With a puzzled look on his face, he noticed that it was now ripped in two.

'Two faced...' he thought before looking back over at Joe.

"Damn this thing." Joe said out loud. Giving one final push, the blade flew back into the up position; the force from it pushing him back into the counter where his soda tipped over and spilled to the floor beneath his feet, tripping him.

"Joe!" yelled Ethan as he made a run for the counter. As Joe fell, his feet kicked the base of the meat cutter, making it collapse on top of him. The air was taken out of Joe's body once the heavy machine landed on him. He didn't even know what hit him when the blade fell out of the up position, hitting him in the face, sending blood all over the immediate vicinity.

Ethan reached the counter and looked over, his mouth widening in shock once he saw what happened. Joe's face and head was vertically split in half just up to his lower lip/upper chin. Blood leaked out from Joe's face like water from a faucet. Stained portions of his skull and brain were visible and the smell of death invaded Ethan's nose like a three week old, rotting trash can. Ethan gagged in disgust. He didn't even recognize Joe anymore. The employee and manager ran out of the back room after hearing the loud crashing sounds and screamed in horror as soon as they saw what had happened.

Ethan looked away, the fortune suddenly making sense. Joe's face was cut in half, he now had two pieces of it. 'Shit!' Ethan yelled mentally as he ran to grab his jacket. He had to warn the others. Lois was next...


	7. Death Stalks

Chapter 7: Death Stalks

The car swerved slightly before Peter regained his grip on the wheel. Lois jerked her head in his direction, wondering what had just happened.

"What was that all about?" she said as she shivered in her wet clothes.

"…sorry, I must've hit some black ice or something." He hoped that his lie sounded convincing. Of course he couldn't be one-hundred percent sure, but he felt like something had just happened to Joe. Maybe he was wrong. After all, if something did happen, Ethan would call. But if he was right, then somebody else was next and that person was sitting right next to him. He would have to be extra careful from now on. 

…

Ethan jumped into his car and tried to call Peter and Emma again. Something was wrong and he wasn't getting any reception. He kept telling himself that the weather caused it, but in the back oh his mind, he knew that Death was trying to prevent anyone from interfering with It's next victim. Starting his car, Ethan knew that he had to hurry up and warn them.

Meanwhile, Emma, Peter, and Lois arrived at the latter girl's house. After they parked, Emma and Peter stepped out of the cars and helped Lois out. 

"Shit!" she yelled as the even colder air of the outdoors brushed against her wet form. She was getting sicker by the minute and if she didn't hurry up and take some medicine as well as a hot shower, then it could get serious. As Emma wrapped her arms around Lois, Peter noticed that he could hear sirens echoing in the distance.

"Hey, I'll catch up with you guys in a minute.", he said.

"Everything okay?", asked Emma.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just wanted to call Ethan and make sure he's good." After finishing his statement, he watched Emma and Lois go inside. The cold air brushed against his skin as he dialed Ethan's number on his cell phone.

…

Inside, Lois broke into another coughing fit, her jet black hair with scarlet streaks dripping water as she did so.

"Where's your mom?", asked Emma as she looked around the house. Lois shook her head, catching her breath.

"Bitch is either at work, or spreading her legs someplace."

"Okay well you need to get in the shower. I'll go turn on the water." Emma left Lois' side and entered the bathroom. After turning on the hot water, she opened up the medicine cabinet over above the sink. As soon as she opened it, various objects fell out into the sink and on the counter below.

"Damn.", she said as she rummaged through products such as hair pins, clips, hair dye, rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, pads, and finally, medicines. After finding one, she placed it on the counter top and started to walk out. Before she left, she turned on the fan vent so that the steam wouldn't fog up the room as much.

'Wow, that's loud.', she thought to herself after turning it on. Backing up, she heard a wooden snap. It startled her but when she realized that she had only knocked over a heavy broom, she felt stupid. After a sigh, she picked it up and leaned it back against the wall in the corner by the door.

Outside, Peter continued to hear nothing but ringing from both Ethan and Joe's cell phones. "What the fuck?" His own phone seemed to not be working properly. Pulling out the antenna, he decided to try again.

…

'I gotta hurry up and tell them!' Ethan was doing his best not to panic. It was pretty hard, seeing as how he had just witnessed a friend get their face severed in half. He could only imagine what kind of terrible thing would happen to Lois if he didn't reach them all in time. Taking a deep breath, he dialed Peter's number again. He heard nothing at all, the battery suddenly died on him.

"Piece of SHIT!" he yelled, throwing his useless phone to the floor of the passenger side. He knew that he only had a short amount of time left.

…

"Okay, the water is running. I put some flu medicine on the counter for you." , said Emma to Lois.

"Thanks."

"I'll be waiting with Peter in the living room until you're finished. Just call out if you need me." Emma guided Lois into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

'Where the hell is Peter? Is he still outside?' Emma walked into the living room and looked out the window. Sure enough, she saw her friend still standing in the driveway. He seemed to be having trouble with his cell phone as he kept looking at it and muttering inaudible obscenities. Once they both caught eye contact, Peter held his index finger in the air, motioning for her to wait and that he'd be right in. Sitting down, Emma thought about turning on the television. She decided not to because she didn't have permission to do so. Normally, she would assume that the person wouldn't mind but with Lois, one could never make such assumptions. 

In the bathroom, Lois dropped her wet clothes to the floor by the shower and stepped into the hot water. The water made her skin hurt, as if it were frostbitten. Gritting her teeth, she tried her best to adjust to the warmth. As she let the water hit her, she started thinking. She thought about her conversation with Peter, her friendship with Emma…that horrible night at the club…

She thought about how her jackass excuse of a father left his family to fend for themselves when she was just a kid; how her whore of a mother paid no attention to her daughter at all anymore. And while she was out doing god knows what, Lois was forced to practically run the house on her own. Everybody just considered her to be this callous bitch, but nobody ever knew these things about her. These things are what made her a bitch…and being a bitch was what helped her survive. It was always easier to turn people away with a bad attitude then to welcome them into her heart only to eventually betray her. 

Tears rose into her eyes, but she pushed them away. This was another one of her defense mechanisms. She would never allow herself to cry. It was a sign of weakness. Snapping back to reality, she noticed that the water had lost a bit of its warmth. That's when she heard a loud metal clank from behind the wall. She was no genius but it sounded like on of the pipes just broke. Suddenly, the water came out ice cold, attacking her nude form.

She stumbled backwards, her heart rate rising to dangerous levels. Barely managing to jump out, she started coughing. This time, her coughs were so intense, that they came out long and drawn out, making her gag and lose air. Her chest heaved slightly inwards as she covered her mouth and coughed again. She felt something wet land in the palm of her hand. Slowly looking into it, she saw that it was blood. She tried to scream, but all that came out was air. Her vision blurred and she felt like she was going to faint. She stumbled again, knocking items to the floor all around her. Her back hit the wall closest to the door and she heard her mother's heavy broom fall behind her. Instead of falling to the floor, it lodged itself in between the bottom of the wall and the doorknob, making it difficult for Emma to come in. Emma pounded on the door, trying to break it open, but Lois was barely holding on to her consciousness.

Quickly, she fell forward to the counter and reached for the medicine that Emma had left for her. Opening the cap, she started chugging its contents with shaky hands. She could barely taste anything, but something felt wrong. Maybe she had taken too much. She dropped the medicine to the floor and collapsed, gagging quietly. Her stomach began to burn and she felt like throwing up.

Dragging herself across the floor to the toilet, she began to vomit all over herself and anything around her. Only it wasn't vomit…it was blood. She panicked, her once beautiful Asian features becoming contorted. She started pounding on the cabinet in agony, the pain ravaging her inner organs. As she fought to stay alive, the pain she was feeling intensified. It was like no other pain that she could even imagine. It was as if her insides were burning away, and they were.

Outside, Peter was walking down the driveway towards the house when a car skid loudly behind him. He realized that it was Ethan and Joe wasn't with him. His heart sank as his fears were becoming reality once again. Ethan's face was red with fear as he swung open the door and ran out.

"Joe's dead!"

"What!", yelled Peter. Before anything else could be said, Emma's voice shrieked loudly. Back inside, Emma had finally kicked open the door to see a nude Lois, covered in blood. She didn't hear anything earlier with the shower and fan vent covering the bathroom with noise.

"Lois!" she yelled as she grabbed hold of her convulsing body. "Oh my god!" One of her friends was dying in her arms. The front door burst open and in came Peter and Ethan.

"Shit!" yelled Ethan before he ran to the house phone and dialed 9-1-1.

"Oh god, oh shit." Peter said with a shaky voice as he grabbed onto Lois' head and held it still so she wouldn't hit it on the hard floor. He looked around, seeing her blood and stomach acids painting the floors a horrifying shade of red. Over by her hand, he saw a bottle. He picked it up and turned it around so he could read the label. After wiping off the blood, he realized that Lois had accidentally mistaken hair dye for the cough syrup on the nearby counter. She had unwillingly poisoned herself. 

Her fortune flashed into his mind: 'You are not afraid to dye.'

"Shit…" Once again, everything made sense all too late.

Emma went back to the living room and grabbed a blanket to cover Lois with. Lois stared into Peter's eyes as she slipped away. While she had always seen crying as a sign of weakness, she allowed herself one last bit of humanity before it was too late. Just before her life ended, a tear fell down her cheek. In just another second, her body stopped shaking and her eyes drifted from Peter's face to the back of her head.

Covered in blood, Peter sat emotionless as Emma sobbed on Ethan's shoulder in the doorway. Death had once again claimed another innocent victim.


	8. Four vs Death

Chapter 8: Four vs. Death

Peter, Ethan, and Emma watched as the coroner's van drove off, police cars and an ambulance following close behind. Once the cars were gone, the three friends sat in silence. Their clothes were still covered and stained with blood, except for Ethan's.

'Are we…all going to die? Is there really no escape?', thought Emma. It seemed like Death was taunting them. It was letting them all know that there was no way out. They could and run and fight, but they would never be free of It's ominous threats. 

Ethan felt traumatized as well. He never thought that he'd ever see anybody die right in front of him. But that was before the club incident…His only thought now was that he hoped they could save themselves before it was too late. His turn was coming up and while he was sacred beyond belief inside, he refused to let it show. He had to be optimistic and support his friends. If he panicked, it would only lead to more commotion and right now, they needed to focus.

After a few more seconds of silence, Ethan looked over at Peter. He seemed emotionless, barely even blinking. Ethan didn't know exactly what his friend was thinking, but he could probably imagine. Then again, maybe he couldn't. Peter was temporarily blessed with the ability to save lives that night, but was forever cursed with the taunting of Death. He hadn't even cared about his own life earlier this year, and now he was responsible for eight other lives…make that three other lives.

It was just the three of them and Tobias Rabe. As Ethan counted the remaining survivors, he decided to speak. It was the first sentence uttered in ten full minutes. 

"Tobias is next…do we have a game plan?"

Emma exhaled loudly before speaking. "From now, we have to stick together. We should go warn Tobias now before something happens to us."

Ethan went pale. He just realized that if Tobias were to die without anyone knowing, then he himself could be caught unprepared and killed. Regaining his composure wasn't easy, but it was necessary to keep himself from going crazy and paranoid.

"We gotta clean up first. We can't just show up to his house with blood all over us, he'll freak out and probably cause his own death." It was the first thing Peter said since Lois died. Like Ethan, he would have to push his feelings back in order to survive. 

"…right. Let's get going then. I'll drive you home.", said Emma, the last part of her sentence referring to Peter.

"It's okay, 'M.", started Ethan, "I'll drive Pete back. You go home and get cleaned up. We'll meet back up and then head over to Tobias after."

Emma looked at him and then Peter. The plan made sense, since it would save time. Nodding, she rose to her feet and headed for her car. "I'll see you guys in a bit."

Ethan waved her off as she pulled out of the driveway. After she was gone, silence returned. Sighing, he stood up and extended his hand out to his friend. 

"C'mon buddy, let's get you home."

It took Peter a few seconds to react. He looked up slowly. Ethan's open hand still sat in front of him, offering to help him up. Lowering his sleeve to cover up his blood stained hand, Peter accepted his friend's offer and got up.

"Thanks."

The two teenagers walked over to the car, getting in quickly. They knew that they could very well be racing against time now. Ethan shifted the car into gear and pulled out of the driveway. Slowing down only to avoid the ice, he drove down the lonely road.

…

Ethan's mind couldn't shake the gory images of Joe and Lois. It traumatized him for sure, and he could only imagine how much more so it did Peter. Not only did Peter see Lois, he also witnessed the deaths of Frederick and Drew. That's not even including the awful premonition he had.

The car remained silent for another two minutes before Peter spoke up.

"Ethan," he began, "I know you're scared…don't worry. I'm not gonna let you guys go. We're ending this."

"…Thanks bro. I know we will."

A few minutes later, they pulled up to Peter's house.

"Fuckin' A." said Peter. "My parents are home."

Normally, Ethan would've gulped but after having Death itself after his ass, he felt he could handle a pair of religious fanatics. Just to be safe, he asked Peter if he should stay in the car and wait.

"No. Please just come in. I don't want to take any more risks.", replied his friend.

The walk down the driveway to the front door felt like the length of a football field to Peter. His parents already thought he was demonized; walking in bloody wouldn't help things. It would probably be like that scene from Carrie. He'd walk in and his parents would start praying frantically before trying to kill him in the name of God. Taking a deep breath, he unlocked the front door and pushed it open.

'Just my luck.', he thought as he looked ahead. His parents were sitting in the kitchen, looking right at him. Their eyes widened slightly as their jaws dropped.

"Wow.", was all Ethan could say. Turning around and closing the door, Peter whispered for him to just go upstairs into his room and lock the door. Once Ethan was out of sight, he walked forward to the kitchen, watching as his parents stared at him like he was missing his head.

"Yeah, sorry I'm getting blood on the carpet. The girl of my dreams just died in my arms awhile ago. Hope you guys can find it in your hearts to forgive me.", he said sarcastically. He was just about to head down the hall to the bathroom to clean himself up, but anger and resentment towards his parents took over. Pivoting on his feet back in their direction, he spoke again.

"Hey guys, don't look so shocked! It's not like this is the first time I've looked like this. Right dad? Just like all those times you used to beat the shit outta me when I was younger. Oh but wait, those were pre-Christian times for you weren't they? Well don't you guys worry, maybe soon your dreams will come true and I'll drop dead someplace. Then you won't have to see this constant reminder of how you guys fucked up. But just so you know, most other people call them sons and daughters." With that, he headed down the hallway towards the bathroom.

"I'm switching back to invisible mode, you guys can go back to ignoring me now!", he yelled down the hall as he came to the bathroom door. After calming down and taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

He gasped in shock at what he saw. Looking to the floor, he saw Lois laying in a pool of blood. Her eyes were wide with fear and her hand reached up for his. She couldn't speak, but her eyes did all the talking.

'Please, don't let me die!', her bloodshot eyes seemed to say. Before he could do anything, he put on the light. She was gone. He let out a muffled groan. His mind was toying with him.

…

He started running the sink water. The blood on his hands and clothes stuck out like a sore thumb. He put his hands under the water and rubbed a bar of soap in between them. The once clear water ran scarlet down the drain. A mirror rested above the sink, right in front of him. He was afraid to look at it; he was afraid to see what he looked like. Unwillingly, he looked up and saw himself. Only it wasn't himself at all. It was a mess of a boy, blood stained, confused, lost, and emotionally scarred and alone. And that's when he realized it: this is what he had become.

Tears formed in his eyes as he looked himself up and down. He tried to hold his emotions back, but it was no use. He could hear himself start to whimper, like a dog that couldn't find its way home. A tear fell down his cheek and that's when he lost control. Releasing a frustrated cry of anguish, he thrust his right fist into the mirror in front of him, cracking it. He couldn't tell if the blood on his hand was his or if it still belonged to Lois.

He collapsed slightly to the floor and leaned back against the wall. The pain now served as a wake-up call for him. He was breaking down, but he had to stop. If he didn't, then no one would survive. Breathing steadily, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He looked over to see his mother hugging him. At first, he thought he was imagining things again but once he smelled her perfume, (which he distinctively remembered her wearing since he was a kid) he knew it was real.

"It's okay.", she said. "You're not alone."

Ethan sat upstairs. Memories of his own family rushed through his mind. Unlike most kids at school, he didn't have parents to come home to. They had died in an unfortunate accident awhile back. Now it was just him and his older brother. They were all each other had, but even they didn't completely get along. While Ethan always put on this 'nice guy' persona, he always felt something missing from his life. However, even though he felt out of place at times, he always tried his best to be optimistic.

Making other people laugh and helping them feel good served as a distraction from his own pain. He had been friends with Peter and Emma for the longest. Emma was always fun to be around. He kind of liked her, but he knew that they were better off as friends. Peter was different back then. Sure, he had his moments, but he was a happier person back then. They had been through a lot together. When Ethan's parents died, Peter was always there to try and make him feel better. In a way, he felt like they were brothers and that's why Ethan always stuck up for Peter in school. Even though things were different, he was determined to eventually have things back to normal.

'We are going to get through this.', he said mentally.

"Toby, you still haven't cleaned the goddamn gutters. It's got all kinds of shit in there.", yelled Mrs. Rabe, Tobias' mother.

"Okay mom, I'm on it. Jeez.", he replied. Another five minutes went by before his mother yelled out again. Rolling his eyes, he stood up and turned off his stereo. Grabbing a jacket, he headed outside and walked to the shed in the backyard. He needed a ladder to get up to the roof. He hadn't cleaned the gutters in awhile now; who knows what kind of mess he'd have to clean up today.

As he set up the ladder on the side of the house, he thought about all this Death stuff. He didn't really believe it, he thought it was just another serving of bullshit courtesy of Peter Colón, Jr.

'That kid always wants attention.', he thought to himself. Climbing up the ladder, he nearly slipped as it wobbled slightly. Thinking back to that night at the club, he thought of a way to explain it. Unfortunately, the more he sought a logical explanation, the more complicated it got. Of course it could always just be a coincidence. Hell, maybe even a good hunch. Either way, Death could kiss his ass. He didn't give a damn about none of this fate crap. It all just sounded like a stupid thing people said to create fear or control. 

'Ain't no fate, ain't no destiny. It's only me and what I choose to do.'

Down the block, Emma waited in her car for Ethan and Peter to show up. Trees blocked her view of Tobias' house, but she could see his car in the driveway as well as another. He probably wasn't alone and as long as no sirens wailed in front of his house, he was definitely still alive. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself.

She tied her long brown hair into a ponytail and leaned back in her seat. She was afraid for her life, but more so for her friends. She would do anything, she'd even sacrifice herself if she knew that it would save the others. There was no need for anymore meaningless deaths. As long as everybody helped each other out, they'd all get through this and eventually return to a normal life. A life where the biggest worry is a test or a date.

'Just stay positive.'

After a few more minutes, Ethan pulled up with Peter.

"Hey 'M.", said Peter.

"Took you guys long enough. And what the hell happened to your hand, Pete?", she asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Right now, we gotta go talk to T-bag down there."

Ethan laughed at Peter's comment. "T-bag? Wow, I knew you guys didn't like each other all that much but…T-bag?"

Emma smiled too. "Pete's got his own lingo. C'mon Big E', you know how he does it. After all this shit is over with, we should make a new dictionary."

"For sure.", replied Ethan. Getting serious again, he spoke aloud. "You guys ready?"

"Yeah.", said Peter.

"He's probably not going to take too well to all this info. Just be careful that we don't spook him off.", Emma said.

Peter snorted sarcastically. "That'll be easy." Parking behind Emma's car, they got out with her and walked down to Tobias' house. As soon as the trees stopped blocking their view, they saw him on a ladder doing something near the roof.

"You guys, he has to get down from there! His fortune said that 'The ladder to success is almost never steady'!", cried Peter once he saw him. Even though he didn't like Tobias, he couldn't just let him die. He had a right to know. Before any of them could run to him, Ethan calmed everybody down.

"Remember guys, we have to do this calmly. We can't run over there and yell, he might get scared and accidentally fall." 

The three of them walked a little faster. In a second, they reached the gates to his house. Peter noticed that the gate stretched all the way around the house and that it reminded him of the fences that graveyards have. It was a bunch of black metal bars connected. There were sharp spike-like tips to each bar on the gate. It made him feel like they were indeed entering a graveyard.

"Tobias.", said Emma in a calm voice, so as not to shock him. He turned slightly at the sound of her voice and saw the three of them. Once he saw Peter, he rolled his eyes and turned back to the gutters.

"What the hell do you guys want?", he said. Ethan decided to take charge.

"Dude, we know that you don't want to believe any of this stuff, but we've seen it with our own eyes. Something's up."

"Accidents, coincidences.", Tobias replied coldly.

"Tobias, can you please come talk to us down here?", Emma asked as politely as she could. 

"Emma, I can hear you all just fine from way up here. Plus, I'm further away from that dumb ass you brought along with you."

Peter had to bite his tongue at the comment that Tobias made. Instead, he tried to reason with him.

"Why won't you believe us? We're just trying to help you. Please get off the ladder Tobias. I'm seriously just trying to help you."

Tobias chuckled. "Bullshit."

"Tobias…Lois is dead.", Emma said calmly. She hoped that he would listen to them now. He stopped cleaning the gutters and looked down at her.

"…What?"

Peter followed up. "I'm sorry. The order that we tried to tell you about earlier was right. We were too late to save her."

"Bullshit.", Tobias said again. It seemed to be his new catch phrase.

"He's telling the truth.", Ethan added.

As they looked up, a slight breeze came out of nowhere. Once it brushed across Peter's face, he went pale. Death was approaching. "Tobias. Get down, now."

"No way. I don't believe this!", Tobias yelled. "I mean, how the hell do you even know it's my turn. How do you know it's not _your_ turn? You're full of it." 

"That night at the club, Mr. Finn gave us those attendance tickets. The order that people started dying corresponded to those tickets. Each ticket was numbered so that we'd all enter the club in numerical order. Lois went in before you and you went in afterwards.", explained Peter, beginning to feel a little more panicked.

Ethan went quiet. Emma gasped suddenly and that's when Peter realized that Tobias' ladder was starting to shake. Quickly, he ran over and held it still. "Tobias, hurry!"

"…Pete?", came Ethan's voice. Peter looked over to see his friend looking paralyzed. 

"What is it?" Just then, a piece of the gutter came loose and dangled. "Tobias!", he yelled. Tobias tried his best to climb down as fast as he could. 

"Pete, I switched tickets with Tobias that night…", said Ethan. Peter's face went numb. Memories of that night rushed back to him at one-hundred miles per hour. He remembered seeing Lois, Tobias, and Ethan in line ahead of him. He remembered looking away to talk to Emma in front of him. He remembered Tobias and Ethan being electrocuted to death at the same time in his vision. He remembered not knowing who died first and using the entry tickets to determine that it was Tobias. He was wrong. For whatever reason while he wasn't looking, Ethan had switched with Tobias. It was Ethan who died first. It was his turn, not Tobias'. His heartbeat intensified as he looked at Ethan. Then he remembered Ethan's fortune: _Something will shimmer from above._

On instinct, Peter looked up to the sky. The sun had managed to barely pierce through the thick clouds for a moment. Something sparkled in the corner of his eye. Looking up over by the roof, the broken piece of gutter reflected the brief ray of sunlight before ripping off the roof. The wind picked up, sending the sharp piece of metal spinning at Ethan.

Ethan saw it coming too late. Emma screamed. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the metal made its way down through the air. Its target: Ethan's throat. Letting out one final scream, Ethan's life flashed before his eyes. Just as the jagged piece of metal was about to slice open his throat, Ethan felt something slam into his body. The metal skid right past his shoulder as he fell to the floor. Once he caught his breath, he realized that Peter had tackled him to the ground just in time, saving his life. Looking over, he saw the broken gutter piece behind him, sticking upright in the snowy ground.

"Shit! Peter, y-you saved me!", was all Ethan managed to yell out. Any momentary relief was cut off by the sound of Tobias screaming. Turning around, Peter saw him falling through the air with the ladder. The unstable ladder had tipped over and before anyone could register what was going to happen, a sickening sound filled the air. Tobias had landed on the spiked fence that guarded his property. 

Nausea overcoming him, Peter looked away in disgust as he got off of Ethan. Once Emma saw the result of the fall, she screamed. Tobias' body lay on the black metal bars of the fence. A row of spikes protruded from his underarm, chest, stomach, and inner thigh as he had landed diagonally on top of the fence. Ethan cursed out loud as he observed the blood seeping out of Tobias' body and onto the snow. His body slid down onto the bars slightly before on of his lower right ribs popped out, the bone being shattered by the spike that pierced through it.

Emma's scream was soon replaced by that of Mrs. Rabe, Tobias' mother. She ran outside upon hearing all the yelling and once she saw the gruesome aftermath of her son's death, she wailed uncontrollably. Emma's eyes filled with tears as she watched Peter and Ethan hold Mrs. Rabe back, doing their best to calm her down.

Taking out her cell phone, Emma dialed 9-1-1. As soon as she was asked to state her emergency, she did her best to tell the operator what had just taken place. Her voice barely kept steady, she was so terrified.

"Okay 'mam. Do you know the address?", asked the operator.

"It's on Aurora Road. The house number is-", started Emma. She looked to the house, but couldn't see a number. "Hold on.", she said shakily as she looked around. Then she saw the mailbox. A number was on it but the red mail flag was in a position that was blocking it. She quickly ran to the driveway, away from the commotion and pulled the mail flag out of the way. Once she saw the house number, she froze.

"Hello? Miss? Hello, are you still there?", asked the operator.

"Oh god…", Emma whispered as she dropped her cell phone and walked slowly backwards. The number was 180. She remembered everything that Drew had told them when he was still alive. She remembered Flight 180 and how it started this whole mess. Her breathing rate increased rapidly as she stared at the number.

"_One day, you might not have me to rely on", Emma remembered saying to Peter not too long ago._

Suddenly, a loud horn blared into the air. She spun around to see a cable van heading straight for her. She had accidentally walked into the street.

_"I'd never let anything happen to you.", Emma remembered Peter replying._

"Emma!", yelled Peter as he turned around and saw what was about to happen. Just as the van was about to slam into her, she stepped back, avoiding it. However, the back doors jiggled loose and as the van sped past her, one of the back doors swung open and bashed her face in, sending her to the pavement.

"EMMA! NOOO!", yelled Peter as he ran towards her. Mrs. Rabe collapsed in tears in front of Tobias as Ethan ran after his friend. He was next and he could be in danger. Before Peter could reach Emma, Ethan grabbed him from behind, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"Peter, no!", he yelled. "You're next!"

Peter struggled to get free. His best friend had just been killed right in front of him. Memories flashed in his mind. All the good times they had, all the times she'd been there for him, it was all over. He would never see her smile again. Overwhelmed with sadness, he collapsed to the ground.

The Emma that lay on the ground just a few feet away, was not the same Emma that he knew. She was tough as nails, invincible, and one of the only people in his life that he would have gladly died for. She was no longer any of these things. Now her face was unrecognizable. Her nose was jammed into her face, her teeth protruded out of her cheeks and her once beautiful chocolate colored skin was now a scarlet mess. Now her fortune made sense: _A hidden door leads to trouble. _She lay motionless as her own blood flowed onto the street around her, seemingly having no end.

Peter could not believe she was dead. Being helped by Ethan, he dragged her body out of the street.

"'M, I'm s-s-so sorry. I p-promised, that I would…", he managed to say. He couldn't speak any more. All he did was cradle her in his arms and sob into her chest. Ethan stayed at his side, putting a hand on his shoulder while he himself cried as well. He was grateful for his life. Peter had intervened and given it back to him, and he planned to return the favor. Looking around, everything seemed clear. But deep down, he knew that Death still had one last victim. Peter was the end of it all. Peter knew this too, but right now, he found that he no longer cared.


	9. 4 Months Later

Chapter 9: 4 Months Later…

'You will not be able to stop what you put into motion.' That was what Peter's fortune cookie said. He knew as soon as he opened it that it was a warning of some sort. He just didn't know that within the next few days, he would lose some good friends, as well as his best friend. That was four long months ago. Only Ethan as well as himself survived.

Now he rummaged through an old photo album. 'Ah!' He finally found what he was looking for. It was a picture from the junior prom. It had himself, Emma, and Ethan in it. It was one of his favorite memories.

Before graduation, his ex-girlfriend, Erica had asked him to the prom. He refused, saying that without Emma, there was no point. Their other friend Kim, who had been visiting a sick grandmother in Florida at the time of the Club Shadows accident, had returned and did her best to cheer Peter up. It was no use. As much as he tried to live normally, he just couldn't. It was too painful. He was forever plagued with the graphic deaths of his friends and classmates. He dreamed about them almost every night.

He would've tried therapy, but hey, been there, done that. Nowadays, he just worked as a medical assistant by day and an aspiring photographer by night. He was still bored as hell with everything. He lived by himself now. He had talked to Ethan about this all those months ago, just days after Emma's death. They tried to figure out what his fortune meant. But after months went by, they came to the following conclusion:

"Maybe you were really never meant to die.", said Ethan. "Maybe the fortune was telling you that you wouldn't be able to save everybody again after the club."

It somewhat made sense. After all, he was still living and breathing. Maybe Ethan was right. Just to be safe, Peter moved out of his parents' house. If he was still meant to die, he'd rather save them the trauma that he had to experience. He partially patched things up with his mother. His father was still dead to him. They never got along before, so they certainly wouldn't do it now. As for Ethan, he kept in regular touch. Pretty much everyday.

Peter stared at the junior prom picture and slowly cracked a small smile. He hadn't genuinely smiled in a long time. He stood in the small ocean view house that his mother helped him buy. After glancing at the picture for a few more moments, he returned to the kitchen. As he neared it, the smell of gas kicked in strong. Once he got back in the kitchen, he coughed slightly. The oven was open and gas fumes had been pouring out for the last half hour or so.

Leaning down to the oven, Peter placed the picture in the back of it. Getting on his knees, he rested his head back inside the oven. He was committing suicide. He knew that it was a selfish act, but he just didn't care. It hurt too much to think, it hurt too much to breathe, it hurt too much to be alive anymore. Deep down, he was sure everybody would understand.

He coughed some more. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but he didn't want to feel a lot of pain when he died. He figured that this would be peaceful enough. Gas would just pump into his lungs until he passed out and then it would take care of the rest. He looked at the picture in front of him. It would be a great last sight to see. He would die with the people he cared most about in his mind.

After a few more minutes, he started to feel dizzier. It probably wouldn't be long now. A sound penetrated the air. It was a ringing sound. His house phone was ringing. He didn't bother to get it. The answering machine picked it up instead.

"Hey it's me. Leave a message.", said Peter's voice in the pre-recorded greeting.

BEEP!

"Hey Pete? It's Ethan. C'mon buddy, pick up. I know you're there bro, pick up."

Sighing, Peter decided to answer it. He would give him some false reassurance and continue with his business. He stumbled a bit once he stood back up, accidentally bumping his head into the hanging plastic spoons above the stove before he made it to the phone.

"Hey man.", he said.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine Ethan, you know how it is."

"Exactly, I do know how it is. Erica and Kim are with me and we wanted to come pick you up to hang out."

"I don't know Ethan, I'm a little-"

"Don't say no. Listen…I know how you feel. Whatever you're thinking, it's not worth it, okay?"

Peter went silent at his friend's words. Ethan continued, "Pete. You have friends here that love and care about you. Myself included, but you better not tell anybody I said that."

Peter smiled slightly. Ethan went on. "Dude, you know you're like my own blood brother. I give a damn about you, more than a damn in fact. I need you to be okay, man. Got it?"

The more Ethan talked, the more Peter felt like listening.

"Don't forget about Emma. If she was still alive, she'd want you to-"

"I'll never be able to just move on, Ethan.", Peter said with a slightly aggravated tone.

"I wasn't gonna say move on. I was gonna say that she'd want you to be happy. She knows how hard you tried, Pete. Don't you feel her? She's still with us everday. Live on for her, dude. And most importantly, live on for yourself."

Peter thought about it for a second. Then, he let out a sigh of relief. He didn't have to kill himself. He could live normally if he just gave it some more time.

"Thanks, E'. Man you should really be a therapist.", he said with a laugh.

"No doubt. Alright, well we're almost there, so get your stuff ready.", replied Ethan.

Just as Peter was about to speak again, he felt something. It was cold, menacing, and evil. A small gust of wind traveled along the room, the wall, and then his face.

'Please tell me that I left a window open…', he thought. He looked around to see them all shut. Suddenly, a smell piece of paper blew across the floor and landed in front of him. As soon as he saw it, he felt the same fear that he had four months ago. It was his fortune. Death was there and it was Peter's turn to die. The list had to be completed.

"…Ethan…", he said in a shaky voice.

"What's wrong?"

"…it's here…it's my…turn…", he answered.

"Pete…hold on, we're almost there! Hang on!", Ethan yelled. The phone cut off unexpectedly. Peter reached down and picked up his fortune. He still wasn't completely comprehending it. The smell of gas started to dominate the air again.

"Oh shit.", Peter said as he rose to his feet and ran for the kitchen. He had to turn off the oven before…

"Please…", he pleaded. As soon as he entered the kitchen, the breeze fluttered around, making it's way to the oven and stove. He saw the plastic spoons hanging above the stove start to sway. Suddenly, one fell off the hook that was holding it. It fell down past the stove, the hanging string attached to the handle wrapping around one of the stove's knobs.

Peter's eyes widened as he understood it all now. Death knew that he would eventually again attempt suicide, only this time, instead of 'attempting' it, Death would lend a hand to make sure it was classified as a 'success'.

In the split second he had left, he looked down at the picture in the oven and kept Ethan and Emma's faces in his watery eyes. The hanging string finished wrapping around the knob, turning on the stove as a bright orange flame emitted across it. Feeding off the gas in the air, the small flame practically turned into a bomb…

The last thing Peter saw was Ethan and Emma's smiling faces before the kitchen exploded…

Immense pain hit his body. Had he enough time to scream, he would've, but his jaw was blown clean off his face. In a split second, he was nothing more than a burst of flame, burnt flesh, blood, and bone fragment. The explosion continued past the kitchen, into nearly half the house, splattering his fiery remains all over the place…

About two blocks away, an explosion ruptured through the air. Ethan, Erica, and Kim screamed as the loud sound echoed through the vicinity. Turning the corner for Peter's block, the three watched in horror as the wild flames tore through his house, taking him along with it.

"It's…over…", Ethan said, holding his tears back. He pulled over and looked down slowly. The last casualty of Death's sick and twisted game had fallen.


	10. Alternate Ending: Guardian Angel

Chapter 10: Alternate Ending: Guardian Angel

'You will not be able to stop what you put into motion.' That was what Peter's fortune cookie said. He knew as soon as he opened it that it was a warning of some sort. He just didn't know that within the next few days, he would lose some good friends, as well as his best friend. That was four long months ago. Only Ethan as well as himself survived. Now he sat in the Starbucks near his house. This was the very same place that he and Emma used to always get together. But now, it was just him and her diary.

He found it a day after her funeral. Her aunt and uncle knew that he was her best friend, so they let him take some things to remember her by. Inside he found out things that he never knew she felt. She had written about how much she missed her mother, how much she hid her sadness, and sometimes just how alone she felt.

Peter felt awful. In all the time when he was sick and suicidal, she had been there for him no matter what. Somewhere along the line, he lost touch with her feelings. He became selfish, always thinking about his problems more than anything. If there was anything that he wanted right now, it would be one thing. His greatest regret was taking their friendship for granted. He wished he could've been there more for her. But it was too late.

Peter's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock on the window next to him. It was Ethan. Coming from the parking behind him came Peter's good friend and co-worker Kim Quy, as well as Erica Bivona who was his ex-girlfriend.

Smirking at the goofy faces Ethan was making through the glass, Peter stuffed Emma's diary into his schoolbag that was hanging on the back of his chair.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy dude!", said Ethan as he came in.

"Yoooooooo E'! Hahaha. What's up you guys?" Peter stood up and did a 'bro hug' with Ethan before giving Kim and Erica a kiss on the cheek. The group sat down at the table and exhaled loudly with relief.

"Finals are done!", the four of them yelled in unison. Their laughter made everyone inside the Starbucks look over at them. But while they all looked happy, they were all thinking the same thing.

"So Peter. I have something for you.", said Kim with a smile. Kim was Vietnamese with black shoulder-length hair. She was an eternal optimist and lately, she had been helping everybody cope with the tragic events that took place just months before.

"Really? What is it?" Peter wondered what his friend was talking about.

"Patience. I have it right here." She reached into her bag and pulled out a small book. "This is a really good motivational book. Sometimes when I feel down, I take it and flip it open to a random page. Almost every time, it says something that I can relate to. Who knows, maybe it can tell you what's in store for your future." Kim handed him the book and smiled.

"Well, fortunes really aren't for me anymore but thank you Kim. It sounds nice." As soon as Peter finished his statement, somebody came in; a heavy breeze coming inside and turning the pages of the book that Kim had just given to him. The book sat still once the door closed. As the girls fixed their hair, Peter noticed that the open page in front of him was blank. It was as if he had no future and the book was showing him. Or was it Death…?

The feeling from that night at the club came back. Looking up, he noticed that Ethan had seen it too. Showing no sign of fear, Ethan reached across the table and closed the book.

"Well Petey boy, I'm gonna go get a latte. You want another?", he said.

"No thanks, I think I've had enough caffeine for one day. You guys should get something."

Kim stood up, looking towards the menu. "I think I will. Erica are you getting something too?"

"Uh, no. I'm just gonna wait here for you guys.", Erica replied. She looked at Peter as she said that, and Ethan got the idea.

"Okay. We'll leave you to it.", he said.

As soon as Kim and Ethan walked away, Erica cleared her throat. Before she could say anything, Peter reached forward and grabbed her right hand. Erica's eyes went wide with shock.

"I'm sorry.", he said.

"For…what?"

"I wasn't there for you like I should've been."

Erica gripped his hand tighter before replying, "It's okay. If anything, you needed me more."

"No Erica. I made this same mistake with Emma and now it's too late for me to fix things with her. I don't want you and me turning out the same."

"Peter…I have no regrets. Certainly no grudges. You don't have to worry. Maybe we can find our way back to each other."

"Can we?"

The two said nothing else. Their eyes did all the talking for them. Peter wanted to lean in and kiss her, but he held back. Unknowingly to him, Erica was doing the same. Any possible attempts were cut off when Kim and Ethan came back to the table. Peter and Erica quickly let go of each other's hands and acted as if nothing had happened.

"I can't believe summer is finally here!", said Kim with an enthusiastic smile.

"It's been a long year." As Ethan said that, he looked to Peter. It had been a long and hard year for everyone, but especially for the two young men. They knew that they could use a break.

"So what are you guys doing for summer vacation? Anything cool?", asked Ethan.

"Not sure yet. For now, I just need to chill out. School's been crazy.", replied Erica.

"Who knows, maybe we can all take a road trip or something." After Kim put her suggestion out there, Ethan and Erica agreed.

"Yeah it could be fun. Let me know where you guys wanna go. I'm in.", said Peter. In his mind, he wanted to go far away. Someplace where he could forget about all the crazy events this past year. Trailing off into his own thoughts, he realized that it was starting to get dark outside. It was about that time for him to go. He had someplace to be.

"Alright you guys, I'd better head out."

"Going home so soon? Why not stay around and celebrate?", asked Kim.

"There'll be plenty of time for that. I'm gonna go visit Emma."

Everybody went quiet upon hearing Peter's statement. Even though Emma had been dead for awhile now, Peter never stopped visiting her grave. They all understood this, so they left him alone about it. Kim got up and gave him a hug before saying bye to him. She was going with Erica to a party in a bit. Ethan figured he'd join them.

Gathering their belongings, the four friends left the Starbucks and headed to their cars. Kim got in her car and started it but Erica told her to wait for a minute. She had something to say to Peter. As he sat in his car and put the key in the ignition, Erica came over and leaned through the driver's side window, giving him a warm kiss on the cheek. It startled him at first but once he realized what she was doing, he felt at ease.

"Call me later?", Erica asked once she finished her kiss. Blushing, Peter nodded with a smile. For once, it felt like the feelings they had for each other were starting to return. He liked it. Once Erica got in the passenger seat of Kim's car and drove off, Ethan came over to Peter with a smile on his face.

"So it looks like the two of you will be upgraded back up to relationship status. How's it feel, Pete?"

"Honestly? Really good. Hey, aren't you going with them to the party?"

"Yeah, I know where it's at. Told them I'd meet up with them there." With that, Ethan came over to the passenger side and got in.

"Listen," he started, "I know you're still worried about the fortune cookie, but hear me out. It's been months and you've been safe. I think what it meant was that you wouldn't be able to save everybody. Maybe by you changing the way things were supposed to happen, you changed your own fate. Think about it. You were the only one who had the vision, the only one who really saw the signs. I think you intervened yourself and now you're not on the list anymore."

It was a lot for Peter to digest but in some way, Ethan made some sense. However, he had seen a variety of subliminal messages in those fortune cookies and he was convinced that his fortune was telling him that he would somehow cause his own death.

'You will not be able to stop what you put into motion.'

That's what he felt his message alluded to. Since then, he'd been very careful as to what he did. He always took the stove off when he wasn't using it, he always checked for gas leaks and water spills, he bundled up when it was cold, he did everything possible to avoid accidents. So far, it had done him well. He didn't want to bother Ethan with this information. He figured he'd just keep staying cautious and everything would be fine.

"You have a good point Ethan. But don't worry, I'll be fine. If I could survive all the things we went through, I could survive anything. Tell you what, text my phone where this party is gonna be at and I'll swing by later on."

"Now we're talkin'! So bro, I'll be seeing you in a few. Take it easy man.", Ethan said as he got out of Peter's car and headed to his own. The two friends waved each other off as Peter pulled out of the parking lot. In a minute, he was off and headed towards the cemetery.

The car was quiet. Normally, Emma would be with him and they'd be driving to have all kinds of weird adventures and thrills. But now it was only him. Being unable to deal with the silence any longer, he switched on the radio.

'Why does my heart go on beating? Why do these eyes of mine cry? Don't they know it's the end of the world, it ended when you said goodbye.' The End of the World by Skeeter Davis played on the classics station with its sad and emotional lyrics, ironically just as Peter was thinking about Emma. With watery eyes, he switched off the radio, decided to stick with silence.

The sound of his breathing was the only one audible. Looking ahead, he saw that he was driving down the same street where Drew was killed months ago. Even though the road was clear and the grass was green, he could still see a wrecked car with bloody snow all around it. Pushing the unpleasant memory away, he was surprised when he looked to his left a minute later.

It was the lake that Cassandra died at. Up the hill was the delivery building that she worked in. The abandoned factory stood next to it. Peter noticed an old wind mill spinning slowly with the wind. Instantly, he was reminded of the high-powered fan that had caused Frederick's death. The graphic images of the deaths he witnessed flashed through his mind. It was disgusting and horribly terrifying.

It had gotten fairly dark by the time he reached the cemetery. Nobody was supposed to be in the graveyard once it was dark. The side entrance was open, the gate swinging almost like he was being welcomed by someone…or something.

'I'll make this quick.', he thought as he pulled over on the side of the road. Nobody was ever supposed to park here, especially at night. With only a few working street lights, drivers probably couldn't see as well as they would during the day. Taking the key out of the ignition, Peter opened his door and got out, taking an item from the back seat with him. A street light buzzed to life behind his car, startling him slightly. It seemed to be the only one working in his immediate vicinity.

Letting out a deep breath, he took a step forward. As soon as he put his foot down on the ground, he felt something solid get kicked forward. It sounded like a glass container or something. Looking down, he found a brown glass beer bottle. It made him angry the fact that it was so close to his tire. With a muttered curse word, he kicked it away from his car.

"Inconsiderate bitches. That shit could've popped my damn tires." With a roll of his eyes, he proceeded forward to the gate. Peter noticed that he felt suddenly uncomfortable once he stood before the gate. It was black with spikes on top, just like the one around Tobias' house. The very same one that Tobias had been impaled on. He took a step back, trying to calm himself when suddenly, he heard a car horn beeping at him. He jumped forward just in time to avoid a white van speeding down the street. Emma's tragic death came to mind once he realized what had almost happened.

Finally, he mustered up enough courage to go inside the cemetery. Emma's grave wasn't that far from the gate. Though he stood in a cold, dark place of death, Peter felt comforted by the sight of Emma's tombstone. Her name seemed to calm him down. It was almost as if he could feel her presence with him; he could almost smell her perfume. Out of nowhere, emotions poured out from him once he knelt down in front of her grave.

"Emma…I miss you. I wish you were still here with me now…I'm sorry, 'M. I couldn't protect you." He sat in silence for a minute as tears fell from his eyes. He decided to change the mood, wiping the tears away.

"While on the subject of apologies, I read your diary. I hope you're not mad at me. I did find something though. I read about how your mother used to buy you this flower. You wrote that it was your favorite." As he spoke, he pulled a small bouquet of flowers from behind his back.

"Here.", he said; resting them in front of her grave, "Aristea macrocarpa. I think that's how it's pronounced. I looked them up on the internet. It said something about people using them to help fill in empty voids in their heart, helping them cope with the loss of a loved one. Now I could be wrong, heheh, so don't quote me on that. Either way…I hope these help fill in those empty voids."

As he finished talking, white moonlight shined down upon him. In that moment, it was almost as if he could feel Emma's approval. He smiled, looking up to the sky. The silence was cut off by the sound of a truck driving him down the opposite side of the street. He looked over to see the word, 'Gasoline' in bold letters written on the tank attached to the truck.

An uneasy feeling rushed over him. Suddenly, the sound of a tire popping was heard.

"Damn it!", yelled Peter. He realized that he must've kicked that empty beer bottle into the street a little while ago. Sheer horror hit him once he saw the truck swerve to the opposite side of the road and smash into his car before tipping over. The truck fell to its side alone with the gasoline tank attached to it. The tank landed on the fence, just as Tobias did months ago, and spilled out waves of gasoline.

Peter's car slammed into the street light behind it, making it collapse to the ground. Almost as if in slow motion, the street light hit the ground and shattered, creating a spark that lit the gasoline. An orange burst followed, accompanied by another and then another. Both his car as well as the truck and tank exploded loudly, sending pieces of hot glass and debris flying into Peter's body and face. He could feel the flesh on his face being torn apart viciously, his right ear lobe getting sliced off before the force of the explosions sent him flying backwards through a tombstone with a snapping sound.

The impact of soft flesh and bone through the hard marble of the tombstone took the air straight out of Peter's body as well as tore it apart. After a moment of silence, Peter gasped in pain. Everything hit him at once. He could feel severe burns and cuts all over him. His lips were shredded into several dangling pieces and a shard of glass sat lodged in his left eye. He knew that his spine was broken once he tried to move and failed to do so. Jagged pieces of the shattered tombstone cut across his back; blood spilling out of him like water out of a faucet. A gash along his entire right side revealed his ribcage. The only sound filling the air was that of the flames claiming their territory.

Unable to move or even call for help, Peter let out a quiet whimper. However, even that small sound was cut off when his own blood began to fill his lungs and trickle down the corners of his mouth. His life was slipping away, pain being the only thing he felt. It was then he realized that Death was indeed waiting for him to set his own demise into motion so that It could take advantage of the situation and finish him off.

Looking over, he saw that he had crashed through the tombstone right next to Emma's. He was going to die right next to his best friend. Just as his veins were practically milked of all life force, the same white moonlight from before shined down upon him. He wasn't sure if he was hallucinating, but again he could feel Emma's presence. The light began to get brighter and brighter. A shadowy figure stepped forth. His vision adjusted to see his best friend, Emma Johnson, adorned in a white dress. It flowed in the wind along with her hair. Peter tried to reach her; he had to know that she was really there.

Emma's face looked sad. It hurt her deeply to see her friend in such a broken, helpless condition. Seeing that he had no energy to reach her, she smiled softly and grabbed hold of his hand. Once Peter felt her hand, he smiled mentally. She was there, watching over him all this time. Who better to have as a guardian angel.

His last breath escaped his body as Emma began to ascend with his soul. Even though Death had won, It wouldn't be able to cheat him out of happiness any longer. Now, he could finally rest in peace.

Author's note: Well that's it! Man this story took me forever to put together. Just some small things, I chose actors to represent my characters: Peter Colon, Jr. would be portrayed be Ricky Ullman. Emma Johnson by Enuka Okuma. Ethan Summers (my friend edrew's character) by Chad Michael Murray. Lois Kou by Brenda Song. Tobias Rabe by Erik Knudsen. Drew Grenier by Alan Ritchson. Joe Iacobetz by James Van Der Beek. Cassandra Atherton by Spencer Locke. Frederick Aalders by Tyron Leitso. Kim by Kea Wong, and Erica by Jewel Staite. Thank you so much for supporting my first finished story in over 2 years. See you in the sequel (maybe:P)!


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